A huge Ukraine aid collection has been taking place at Quex Barn in Birchington with donations being welcomed until at least the end of next week.
Thousands of donations have been taken to the site which owner Ian Mather has given for use.
Items still in high demand include batteries, transistor radios, torches with batteries or wind-up torches, matches and pet food. Other donations called for areBlankets, sleeping bags, mats, towels, Hygiene products – sanitary pads, tampons, masks, nappies, wet wipes, toothpaste, toothbrushes, shower gels, shampoos, disposable razors, Medical supplies: plasters, hydrogen peroxide, bandages, food with a long life, money to cover shipping costs to the Ukraine. Any donations are gratefully received.
The first shipment of supplies is due to be transported out tomorrow (March 8).
Donations can be made between 8am and 5pm.
The effort is being co-ordinated by Susan Johnson, Edyta Jobczynska and Anna Sabatowska alongside Ian and his team. They are working with the Polish Association and being helped by the Friends of Quex Park and numerous volunteers including Rotary members.
Edyta, who works at Quex Barn, had seen the collections being made in her native country of Poland and also wanted to help.
She said: “I had a lot of conversations with our customers at the barn and felt like everyone wanted to do something to help but didn’t know how to approach it
“I asked Ian if we could make the barn a collection point and he’s said absolutely, as he wanted to speak to me and ask whether there is anything he could to to help
“The response was huge, we really didn’t expect that and I feel like it brought the community together
“It will help so many people that have lost everything and had to leave their country.”
Ian said: “We are continuing to collect until the end of next week at the earliest. We have our first shipment heading off tomorrow. The response has been amazing!”
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Collections of diabetic medical supplies are also being organised by Type One Style from a hangar at Manston airport.
Under the banner of United For Ukraine the team and volunteers shipped out their first load at the weekend.
Volunteers have been sorting, collating, packing and loading. The effort is being coordinated by Charlie Cawsey of Type One Style.
Type One Style have aggregated over £120,000 of supplies and have much more coming. They are working directly with the Ukrainian government and a network of volunteers inside Ukraine that they have built using digital platforms.
They are shipping to Ukraine and border regions.
To help the effort fill in the volunteer form here
Russian President Vladimir Putin’s military action into Ukraine on February 24 has seen heavy artillery assaults in cities including Kyiv and Kharkiv.
More than 1,5 million people have fled from Ukraine with the vast majority crossing into Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Hungary and Moldova.
The UK has allocated an additional $100m directly to the Ukrainian government budget to mitigate financial pressures created by Russia’s invasion.
This comes on top of the UK training 22,000 soldiers, supplying 2,000 anti-tank missiles, providing £100 million for economic reform and energy independence, and providing £120 million of humanitarian aid including £25 million of match funding to the Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC) appeal.
The Metropolitan Police’s War Crimes Team is gathering evidence in relation to alleged war crimes in Ukraine in support of the International Criminal Court (ICC) investigation, which was confirmed by the ICC Prosecutor on 2 March.
To help
Cash donations can be made to the Disaster Emergency Committee which works with member charities and local partners operating on the ground in Ukraine and western border countries
