The Plant and Hire Aid Alliance, in association with Rotary International, has called on the rental industry to donate to its latest initiative: Power to Ukraine, which aims to send 10,000 generators to Ukraine. The Plant and Hire Aid Alliance, a group of rental companies and suppliers, was created to help Ukrainians during this time of need.
Following attacks on the power grid and other infrastructure, many Ukrainians get only three hours of electricity per day. In the meantime, winter temperatures in the capital, Kyiv, can reach as low as 24 degrees F during the day and 12 degrees F at night. Additionally, out of a population of 44 million, nearly 10 million Ukrainians have been displaced from their homes, estimates Jeremy Fish, CEO of Ardent Hire Solutions, which set up the Alliance.
“There must be a lot of people in the U.S. who are watching and saying, ‘I’d like to do something, but I’m not sure what to do,’” Fish says. “We need U.S. rental companies to support this and get running behind this. Just imagine what it’s like in those cold conditions. Imagine your neighborhood has been bombed, you’ve got no job, no electricity, no heating and maybe no water, with no prospect of it coming back.”
The generators will be bought in small batches so they reach Ukrainians sooner and will be sourced from Europe to simplify logistics.
“We're sourcing generators from within Europe to minimize the transport costs and to maximize the dollar value of the generators that we're providing,” Fish says. “We've got the channels into Ukraine, we've got the track record, the contacts and the references, so we can get it done. We can get the equipment to the right people.”
The Plant and Hire Aid Alliance came about to support the humanitarian effort in Ukraine.
“The Plant and Hire Aid Alliance is a collection of rental companies and suppliers in the industry who have gotten together to give unified support to the Ukrainian cause at a time when Ukrainian families are being displaced, families are being torn apart and their country is being ravaged,” Fish says. “It’s also worth mentioning that we’re all volunteers, and so every single penny raised is going straight to the Ukrainian humanitarian cause. We just need more funds to come through, so we can get these people the generators they need.”
To ensure that the generators reach those in greatest need, the Plant and Hire Aid Alliance is working with the 69 Rotary Clubs across Ukraine, which will help distribute the generators and confirm they have been provided directly to those intended. The aid workers will also register recipients on a website created by the Plant and Hire Aid Alliance to ensure the generators are in the hands of their intended beneficiaries and that they are being used as intended.
Other efforts by the organization include past efforts to send 30,000 Christmas presents, 50 tons of medical supplies and 1,500 mattresses to those who need them in Ukraine.
