Generators
for Ukraine

February 24, 2022, the date Ukraine was invaded by Russian troops. It was an inconceivable act, also for Steffen Köhler. The Senior Station Technician immediately picked up the phone to find out where he could help. He took in several families from Ukraine. As a result, he acquired first-hand knowledge of what was needed, and he helped out with donations in kind and in dealing with public authorities. The Ukrainians no longer live with him, but they are in close contact. “We’ve struck up a friendship,” says Steffen Köhler.

Then came the onset of winter at the end of November 2022. The attacks intensified and the country needed generators to produce electricity. Steffen Köhler therefore did some research and found that a small generator cost around €1,000. “I e-mailed KWS from my tractor and asked about ways of providing financial support – for a generator,” he recalls. Katrin Feger, Lead of Public Affairs and Arts, replied promptly, and help was pledged in agreement with the Executive Board.

“We have to hurry”

As a private individual, however, Steffen Köhler could not accept a donation, so he sought another solution. He hit upon the foundation Diakoniestiftung Einbeck. Michael Büchting is Chairman of its Board of Trustees. He replied that KWS could make a donation to the foundation. Michael Büchting also brought up the AKB Foundation and his colleague on its board, Frithjof Hansing, who established contact with the relief organization Ukraine-Hilfe Berlin. But above all, he realized that swift action was necessary in view of the cold winter and that several generators needed to be ordered. The necessary funds were pledged by the AKB Foundation.

It was hard to obtain power generators at the end of 2022. Steffen Köhler ordered a total of seven in Italy and Bavaria. His garage housed boxes containing 6,000 and 8,000 watt generators and weighing 120 kilograms each – and they had to be transported to the war zone. Steffen Köhler drove five of them with his trailer to Ukraine-Hilfe in the German capital. A friend took two directly to Ukraine.

Michael Büchting was emphatic: “We’re going to do more!” Steffen Köhler learned from Ukraine-Hilfe Berlin that a central hospital in Lviv could not operate adequately with its emergency generator. Ukraine-Hilfe found a 700,000-watt generator the size of a truck.