On Wednesday 15 March, four vans will head off for the Ukrainian border full of food, medicine, camping stoves and approx. 1000 Easter boxes. These will be distributed to refugee communities in Poland and front line communities in Ukraine, including villages near Bakhmut, Lyman and Sumy.
Two of the vans will be driven by Princebuild Directors Mark and Dale Asplin who are also supplying three of their company vans to make the journey.
Princebuild have raised almost £20,000 and collected the Easter Boxes through their network of suppliers, staff and sub-contractors. This is a welcome boost to the trip which is the 8th delivery that the Peterborough group ‘Helping Our Ukrainian Friends’ have made.
The group have been generously supported by a long list of local companies, organisations and individuals and in total have raised close to £150,000 which has been used to purchase essential goods and food including:
- 37 generators for use by churches, schools, orphanages, charities and cafes across Ukraine
- 2 tonnes of general medical supplies, such as bandages, sutures, surgical gowns and gloves to the Kyiv Heart Institute
- Specialist medical equipment for the Kyiv Heart Institute, particularly 15 heart valves and over 600 sutures for use in heart surgery
- Head torches, power packs and hi-vis ribbons to help a charity for the deaf in Odesa
- Supporting 160 Ukrainian refugee children to attend a residential summer camp in Poland, providing them with much needed respite and a range of activities with children their own age (two members of the UK team also attended this camp and worked as volunteers)
- Supporting 90 Ukrainian refugee children to attend week-long day camps in Gliwice, Poland
- Supporting financially three individual families of refugees in the first days of the war to establish their families in Poland.
They have also delivered around 20 tonnes of donated food and 600 gift boxes which were given to children at Christmas.
Richard Astle, spokesperson for Helping Our Ukrainian Friends said; “The people of Ukraine need our help now more than ever. They are the victims of a brutal invasion and it matters to all of us that they should succeed in repelling violence and regaining their homes. I am constantly told that for many of the people we have helped, it is the fact that we are supporting them at all that matters. It demonstrates that they are not alone or forgotten. Every time we go to Poland or Ukraine, we are struck by how much help is needed and want to do more. Their stories and their bravery inspire us all.”
Mark Asplin, Director of Princebuild also commented; “Last year we made our own collection of goods and made a donation to the DEC, we also assisted with the purchase of two generators, however we really wanted to do more. With the opportunity to work with Helping Our Ukrainian Friends and also the chance to travel to the border and meet some of the people we are working to help, we really feel like we are making a difference.
“We have been overwhelmed by the response to our fundraising and Easter Box collection and we have far surpassed our initial targets. We are so pleased to be able to support the group in this way and myself and Dale are looking forward to making the trip next week.”
The donations will be delivered to the town of Gliwice in Poland. From there two members of the Helping Our Ukrainian Friends team will drive as part of a convoy of Polish lorries across the border to the town of Rivne. From there Ukrainian teams will distribute the supplies to communities on the front line.
The Helping Our Ukrainian Friends project was set up immediately after the Russian invasion and made its first delivery of medical supplies to the Kyiv Heart Institute in March 2022. More details can be found on its Facebook page – https://www.facebook.com/HelpingUkrainesSurgeons
Videos can also be found on the group’s You Tube site https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLy0QCmIALTCX5T4c_VbgzwGtIZBER1pao this link shows the supplies being delivered to these communities.