We stand together – we are one family!

Even before the outbreak of the war, Scheidt & Bachmann's management began intensive discussion with Kyiv and Slovak branches about the possibility of moving Ukrainian colleagues and their families to Slovakia. A week before the war started, the topic of relocation was approved and confirmed by the company´s management. The Slovak management immediately started looking for office spaces and the necessary accommodation for the Ukrainian colleagues.

The first departures have been scheduled for February 25^th, 2022. But on 24^th February 2022 the invasion of Russian troops began at night...

At that time, one of our Ukrainian colleagues, Yelizaveta Ryzhankova, was participating on a training in Slovakia, but unfortunately, she could not return home. Another colleague, Volodimyr Gorobei, was working from home in a town near the Slovak border, because he was recovering from his surgery in a quieter environment than Kyiv. On this Thursday Volodimyr drove to the Slovakian border and he came there before the conscription was announced for all Ukrainian men between the ages 18 and 60. Oleksandra Anoshchenko moved to live with her parents in western Ukraine after the war broke out but advancing troops and increasing explosions forced her and her parents to flee to Slovakia. The remaining Ukrainian colleagues stayed in Kyiv, but Scheidt & Bachmann´s management was already prepared for evacuation and accommodation for colleagues and their families in Slovakia. They all experienced a difficult journey, which took up to four days to drive from Kyiv to Žilina. They had to overcome long queues, fuel shortages at petrol stations, to cross several checkpoints where soldiers checked personal documents and they were still hiding from Russian attacks...

Gradually, 7 employees of the Kyiv team and 11 families of Ukrainian colleagues found a safe haven in the Žilina office – 29 people in total. The remaining 26 male and 2 female employees are in Kyiv, Ukraine. Nevertheless, they tried to fulfil their work tasks as usual and started working normally from April 28^th, 2022.

Initially they were all accommodated in hotels and guesthouses, but then the apartments were found for them to give them more privacy. Scheidt & Bachmann fully covers the costs of the accommodation. The Slovak branch helped the Ukrainian colleagues and their families to arrange all the necessary documents, including the status of temporary refuge, which covers their health care and allows them to work. The children started attending Slovak kindergartens and schools. Some colleagues are already attending Slovak language courses to communicate with the colleagues based there in Slovak. “Whatever was needed, we just had to forward our open topics to our colleagues in Žilina and they started to handle it. The accommodation and the working area were organized perfectly and quickly. We really appreciate everything what was done by our colleagues from Slovakia and Germany.” says Oksana Artyukh.

For five Ukrainian female colleagues and two male colleagues we created own offices with all necessary equipment so they can continue their work in Žilina. “Since we are safe here, we can work and help our country remotely, mainly to pay taxes, which is a crucial point for maintaining the economic situation of Ukraine,” they say. Colleagues who have already worked with the Slovak team are very satisfied with on-site cooperation. One of them is still a student Mykola Syzko: “The Slovak colleagues are great. I learn a lot from them.” In addition, Mykola and Anastasia Kharchenko, who are working students at Scheidt & Bachmann continue to study computer science online.

The people in Ukraine were confronted with a severe shortage of medicines and other consumer goods. Therefore Scheidt & Bachmann in Mönchengladbach also collected medicines and sent them to Bytča via the internal transport. One employee went above and beyond the call of duty in this matter.

Lucien Hutgens, an employee of Scheidt & Bachmann System Service GmbH and trainer of the Fuel Retail Solutions division in Germany, made it his heart's desire to help Ukraine overnight, as his wife is Ukrainian by birth and his parents-in-law were still in Ukraine at the beginning of the war. Equipped with an Scheidt & Bachmann van and a fuel card, Lucien set off on Monday February 28^th, four days after the outbreak of the war, to the Polish-Ukrainian border, where he also picked up his parents-in-law. He already had the first donations in goods and warm clothing for the cold season in Ukraine in his luggage.

Since then, Lucien has driven countless times to the Polish-Ukrainian and Slovak-Ukrainian borders to pick up refugees from shelters and to drop off donations. His wife, Viktoria, also organized a transport for the family of a Ukrainian co-worker who were taken to Slovakia.

Since the outbreak of the war, the Hutgens family has housed more than 70 people at their own expense in their house in Mönchengladbach and helped with finding accommodation and initial registration. They are currently housing a mother and her son until a permanent place to stay has been found.

In March, Jörg M. Heilingbrunner, Managing Director of Scheidt & Bachmann Fuel Retail Solutions GmbH, visited the Ukrainian colleagues and their families accommodated in Slovakia. Together with Slovakian colleagues, he drove to the Slovakian-Ukrainian border to hand over donations in kind. Slovakian Managing Directors, Róbert Kulla and Ján Krúpa, also provided support at the Slovak-Ukrainian border.

Together Scheidt & Bachmann and the Hutgens family, with the support of many aid organizations, Rotary Club Düsseldorf, churches, doctors' practices, even Scheidt & Bachmann customers, friends from Germany and the Netherlands, have organized weekly transports with donations and their deliveries to Ukraine since the beginning of the war until today. Thousands of liters of drinking water, pet food, fuel, nappies, and new clothes have been delivered directly to Kyiv and Kharkov.

Thank you very much for this great commitment from all sides. We cannot put into words what you have done for our Ukrainian colleagues and their families.

A big thank you also goes to Jörg M. Heilingbrunner and Andreas Gans, Managing Directors of Scheidt & Bachmann System Service GmbH, who did not hesitate and immediately gave Lucien time off, provided him with an company van and actively supported him in all matters.

Once again, we have proved together that helping others is part of our corporate values. Thanks to them we can achieve remarkable things. In this case – to save innocent human lives! And we can be delighted by the words of Ukrainian colleagues: "Thank you for everything you have done for us and our families!"