Volunteering in Krakow

Your guide would be an excellent resource. I would ask him or her.

Sarah Murdoch of Adventures with Sarah and former Rick Steves guide, provided information to assist people in Ukraine. There were guides and others helping families relocate is my understanding. I would look at the websites for Guide Collective and Adventures with Sarah and send each an email of inquiry.

Other sources might be Cameron Hewitt (works with Rick Steves on eastern Europe) and on this forum, Carlos, who spends a lot of time in Poland.

I was on a different website that was discussing this topic. The consensus was that the volunteers should be able to speak Polish or Ukrainian. What they really need are donations to meet the constant needs of the people. I bet they would be thrilled if you showed up at a refugee center with a taxi full of personal care items such as TP, diapers, etc.

Poland also needs people to go there and spend money on tourist activities. They are suffering from the decline of tourism due to the war in Ukraine. Extending your travel another week helps them.

Check out this thread from a few months ago, the advice is pretty relevant.
https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/poland/opportunities-for-volunteering-for-ukraine-refugee-crisis

I agree with Jules, I think the most helpful thing would be to fly in a week early to Krakow. Stay in hotels and go out to eat often, and take taxis or Ubers everywhere. Many Ukrainian refugees have since taken up jobs in hotels restaurants or as taxi / Uber drivers. By supporting the tourism you're supporting Ukrainian refugees.

As for volunteering, honestly don't know of an organization that's a one-day and done kind of thing for volunteers, I think they're mainly looking for people who can stay longer term. There was definitely no shortage of local people wanting to help when I was in Poland this spring.

The advice on the mentioned link included a recommendation to financially support Samaritan's Purse. As a year-round volunteer for Samaritan's Purse, I can speak to the incredible job they have been doing. Through the 2,200 churches with whom they had developed relationships, SP has brought over three field hospitals, set up several clinics in Ukraine, and fed over three million. people. They brought over several planeloads of supplies for the refugees and are now preparing to serve the refugees and people in desperate situations during a very bleak winter. I sent over funds to my cousin, who is a priest in L'viv, and gave them to a convent housing refugees. The needs of the suffering people are great.

BTW, Poland and a few other bordering countries have really stepped up to help. A number of refugees have settled with their children in the village where my relatives live.

I respect and admire Kathy wanting to volunteer. Very nice! It is the "one day" limit that can be challenging. Unless a program is already set up, it will take more man hours to facilitate your volunteer time than the benefit your volunteer time will give.

I also support Samaritan's Purse, but I know there are many reputable organizations that you can provide financial support to that are set up for meeting the needs of displaced people. The key is to keep doing it on a consistent basis throughout the winter.

I do know that visiting and supporting the economy is also helpful, but it won't take the place of direct donations to organizations helping the neediest with basic needs.

I agree with everything everyone has said above - and will be spending my tourist money in Poland for the month of September. Carlos mentioned that a number of Uber drivers are Ukrainian - I may take that as an excuse to Uber more often! LOL!

However if anyone is interested in direct personal help to a Ukrainian family in need (for a different sort of help), DM me and I will send the name of the organization. Hopefully it doesn’t cross forum lines to say I have been sending necessary things for winter directly to a family who escaped Mariupol with only their backpacks. It is an eye opener to be able to message daily with the mom in her new life in Kyiv.

Since this is a travel site, I want to add a suggestion on using taxis and Ubers in Poland. We had a Ukrainian taxi driver in Krakow on our last trip to Poland in 2018, and his English was quite poor. Be sure to have a notepad with the destination written down rather than trying to tell them verbally. My "bus station" should have sounded more like "boose station." My error.

Also, we want to support everyone who is working in Poland, including the amazingly generous Polish people who are struggling to provide for their families in addition to all the Ukrainians settling in their villages and cities.

Good point, dgawell. It’s something I am afraid could go wrong everywhere I go if I depend on my language skill. Ha! I confess that I almost always have my destination marked on my Google map on my phone and have it ready to go - that has made life easier several times.