Buses and relief supplies delivered: HSG students have been supporting Ukraine since the start of the war

‘My trip to Ukraine was harrowing. We visited a cellar in a formerly occupied area where the Russian army had locked up civilians for weeks. On top of that, there were repeated air raids,’ says Oliver Meyer. The HSG graduate and founder of the start-up storabble travelled to the northern Ukrainian city of Chernihiv in September 2024. He was accompanying Félix Baumann, the Swiss ambassador to Ukraine.

The reason for the trip is Meyer's involvement in the association ‘St.Gallen Helps Ukraine’. This aid association was founded by HSG students in 2022. Collection campaigns of tonnes of relief supplies followed. Now, on the initiative of the association, the St. Gallen transport company will provide eleven decommissioned city buses to Chernihiv free of charge in autumn 2024. ‘Ukraine urgently needs buses because a large proportion of its public transport system was destroyed or damaged in the war,’ says Meyer.

Furthermore, children can now only attend schools where lessons can take place in bunkers. ‘This means that many children have to travel further every day,’ says Meyer. The St. Gallen low-floor buses are in use in Chernihiv for the school run and for transporting the elderly and those with limited mobility. The city's infrastructure was severely damaged during Russian attacks.

‘We want to provide concrete help’

Together with the HSG students Emilia von Albertini, Frederick Mangold, Noé Kuhn and Alisa Nyamukapa, Meyer founded ‘St.Gallen Helps Ukraine’ shortly after the start of Russia's war of aggression in February 2022. ‘We wanted to provide concrete help and give people the opportunity to get involved,’ says Meyer. ‘As students, we also had the flexibility to invest a lot of time at short notice.’ He himself extended his studies by one semester because of his work for St.Gallen Helps Ukraine. At present, the members of the association are volunteering for up to one day a week on average. Today, the core team consists of seven students or graduates of the HSG and two students of ETH Zurich.

The first campaign in winter 2022 was the collection of relief supplies in an empty hall at the St. Gallen freight yard. The HSG students received several tonnes of supplies from the public, including flashlights, power banks and long-life food. The Ukrainian Embassy in Switzerland arranged for transport companies to pick up the supplies directly in St. Gallen. In summer 2022, a donation campaign was launched with the supermarket chain Coop, whereby online shop users could select and donate goods directly.

Existing contact with the Mayor of St. Gallen was helpful

In summer 2023, Meyer and co-founder von Albertini were able to meet representatives of the Swiss Embassy in Kyiv for the first time. ‘During our discussions there, we were told that Ukraine urgently needs buses to transport schoolchildren.’ Back in Switzerland, Meyer asked Maria Pappa, the mayor of St. Gallen, whom he had met when he was a founder of storabble and a finalist in the Startfeld Diamant young entrepreneur award. ’She put us in touch with city councillor Peter Jans, whose department is responsible for the transport services.’

When the city declared its fundamental willingness to help, ‘St.Gallen Helps Ukraine’ carried out extensive clarifications regarding the export and import of the vehicles and their usability for Ukraine. The association worked closely with the federal project Decentralisation for Improved Democratic Institutions (DECIDE) and the Ukraine-Switzerland Association in Bern. The bus transfers were financed by the Swiss Embassy in Ukraine and SECO.

Further bus donations are welcome

‘We have learned a lot and built up a good network of partners. Today, we are at the point where we can quickly process further donations of vehicles,’ says Meyer. His wish now is that further vehicle donations will follow. ’We are also grateful for contacts that give us easy access to transport companies or businesses.’

The gratitude of the Ukrainian population when the buses were handed over was great, says Meyer. ‘There was a reception at the Chernihiv City Hall, which I was able to attend. There were also many journalists there.’ These reactions strengthened ‘St.Gallen Helps Ukraine’ in its commitment.