PROVINCE OF UTRECHT – Various Utrecht municipalities are working around the clock to arrange shelter for Ukrainians.
A group of refugees will arrive in Montfoort tomorrow evening. Today and tomorrow during the day, a former Rabobank building on the Hoogstraat is being prepared by volunteers and entrepreneurs. Montfoorter Kees van Dijke, who has been coming to Ukraine for years and has many contacts there, has brought the refugees to the Netherlands.
Meerkerk town hall
The municipality of Vijfheerenlanden is also working on a reception location. Meerkerk town hall is being prepared for the reception of eighty refugees from Ukraine. Mayor Sjors Fröhlich tweeted: “Beds and mattresses delivered, offices transformed into bedrooms. And the mayor’s chambers have to believe it too. With pleasure!”
Hotel in Utrecht
In Utrecht, several refugee families are currently being accommodated in the Van der Valk Hotel along the A12 in Kanaleneiland. For the time being, hotels are the simplest solution because people can go there right away. In this case, it concerns Ukrainians who report in Utrecht to, for example, the police or the city office.
The shelter that is now offered is fundamentally different from the shelter that is currently offered to other refugees in, for example, the Voorveldse Polder. The situation changes when the government presses the ’emergency button’ and indicates that many more refugees are coming. Then it will no longer be in the hands of the municipalities, but of the Security Regions. They will then divide the refugees. Tonight there will be another security meeting in Utrecht where the mayors will discuss the reception of Ukrainians.
The cabinet wants each of the 25 security regions to arrange 2,000 reception places for Ukrainian refugees. Half of this must be available in the short term.
Shelter Ukrainian pets
Shelter is not only necessary for Ukrainian refugees, their pets also need a safe home, according to the Dutch Federation of Animal Shelter Organizations (NFDO). The Foundation for Animal Aid Extension Woerden eo keeps the door open in animal shelter Reijerscop to temporarily take in pets of refugees from Ukraine in the Netherlands.