Out of the continuation of a twinning collaboration between JCI Basel and JCI Cluj joined forces to support the Ukrainian children displaced across the Romanian border. The goal was to provide access to laptops, play areas, opportunities to learn Romanian and generally a safe refuge, which we coined the Tech hub for Ukrainian Children. The two LOMs met regularly to draft a plan and discuss the logistical aspects of setting up this center.
Execution to enable the project was divided into two parts. The Cluj team had previous experience and success in establishing similar centers for underprivileged youth and leveraged that know how to build a plan for the new Tech hub. They dove into identifying a location, sourcing supplies and setting up space.
In parallel JCI Basel AK Training International mobilized a team to collaborate with AK Social and AK Events to drive fundraising for the hub. The Basel team mobilized a TWINT to make the collection of donations as seamless as possible and shared a donation request letter through several channels and took advantage of in person events to remind attendees of the cause. Through relentless efforts from JCI Basel advocating for the cause our generous members, family and friends donated 2400CHF, which was then kindly supplemented by the JCI Swiss Foundation with another 1000CHF for a total of 3400CHF.
The donation was quickly put to use in purchasing supplies for the hub and thankfully the space has kicked off exceptionally well with daily traffic and enthusiasm from the participants. The donation provided by JCI Basel funded: 5 laptops and accessories, books, 5 tablets, 2 VR headsets, several games and supported some of the administrative costs.