“I’ve never seen that, it’s a historic moment for humanitarianism”, rejoiced this morning on France Bleu Drôme-Ardèche, Claude Lett, the president of Aides Actions Internationales Pompiers. The other side of the coin: the association, which initially hoped to fill a semi-trailer, finally had to send 15 to the Ukrainian border. “We refuse material donations and now call for monetary donations”explains Claude Lett.
About 45,000 euros of needs
Claude Lett had not anticipated the exceptional generosity that we are experiencing in France. In total, thanks to the help of the association of mayors of France, 15 trucks full of clothes, materials and comforters will leave the Drôme by the end of next week. “And to that are added five trucks from Haute-Loire”he says.
Problem: a round trip costs around 7,000 euros per truck. And even the help of carriers will not be enough: “They came to us and took on 70% of the cost. At our expense, we have 2 to 3,000 euros left per truck. We need about 45,000 euros to organize these convoys”. A solidarity show is organized this Friday evening in Bourg-de-Péage, at the Jean Cocteau room and the association calls for donations on the website https://www.2aip.fr/.
“At least 4 to 5 people insult us every day” – Claude Lett
Overall, all the associations were overwhelmed by the influx of donations. The civil protection of the Drôme also calls for financial donations on its website. Residents, however, want to continue to give material donations, even if it means being aggressive. “It’s also uniquelaments Claude Lett. There are people who insult us every day to tell us that they don’t understand why we no longer take anything for the Ukrainians. We can explain that we are saturated with packages, people do not understand. This is the first time that at least four to five insult me every day on the phone”.
Donations from Drôme will leave for Poland at the end of next week. “We had to leave for Moldova, in the region of Palanca. It turned out that the customs asked that only new equipment enter their territory. But we cannot ask people to buy to give .People give what they can give”concludes Claude Lett.