Mr. Pordes is an 80-year-old Austrian who donated 4,600 euros to our foundation for his anniversary. Why did Mr. Pordes refuse gifts on his birthday in favor of helping old women in Ukraine?
A Ukrainian woman who was forced to go to Austria because of the war wrote to us and said that she lives in a family of incredibly kind people. The owner of the house is Robert Pordes and he has Ukrainian roots. On his birthday, he asked his friends not to give him anything, but to make donations for lonely seniors in Ukraine. Then he doubled this amount with his own money. So the Fund received 4,600 euros. And this is 420 food and household sets!
We decided to talk to Mr. Pordes and have a small interview with him so that you can see how humble this man is: always listens more than he speaks and is very consistent in his judgments and actions.
— How did you find out about your Ukrainian roots? How did the family keep this information?
— My good friend, Halyna Petrosanyak, comes from Ivano-Frankivsk. Ms. Halyna advised me the historian Vladyslava Moskalets, a friend of mine, to research the roots of my ancestors. Władysław Moskalec managed to find out the exact dates of birth of my grandfather and his parents, my great-grandfathers and great-grandmothers, for this research was conducted in the Warsaw archives.
This is how I found out that my grandfather, Markus Pordes, was born in Lviv in 1867 in the family of Israel Pordes. He emigrated at the turn of the century from Galicia (it was then part of the Austrian monarchy) to Graz. My grandfather married my grandmother there.
— How do you feel about the war in Ukraine?
— A straight line can be drawn between the greatest criminals of the 20th and 21st centuries: Stalin-Hitler-Putin, all of whom brought great suffering and death to peoples who were involved in wars.
— How did the idea to help the “Starenki” fund come to you? How did you find out about us?
— I asked a Ukrainian friend for advice, and she gave me the addresses of five charities. I liked the description of the activities of the Starenki fundation, since I am also an elderly person, so I chose this particular fund. I continue to donate to organizations that help people in need or in difficult life circumstances.
— Why did you decide to collect donations instead of gifts?
— I have worked very intensively throughout my life, and while living a very secluded and relatively modest life, I have been able to achieve a certain level of prosperity. Since I had no particular wishes, I wanted to help people who were in trouble as a result of the Russian invasion.
— What Mr.Pordes want to wish to our wards?
— I wish the elderly Ukrainians that the war ends with the victory of Ukraine and as soon as possible. I also want the aid programs of the Western world to really make life easier for these people.
We are sincerely grateful to Mr. Pordes for his help. Thanks to his help, 420 elderlies received food and household kits. Ba and Di felt real joy from the fact that even alone they are not alone and there is someone to take care of them.