I am Luke, a Gas Engineer from Portsmouth, UK.
I have volunteered my time (and own money) to organise the logistics of humanitarian aid to Ukrainian refugees fleeing war. Collecting donations from a kind hearted population is the easy part. Getting them across Europe is not. It's time consuming and expensive.
Objective one was to collect and transport a van load of local donations to Poland. The plan was to use my own vehicle, but it quickly became apparent that the donations far exceeded the capacity. In 5 days this idea turned into two full crafter vans, full to weighted capacity, heading to Poland with 4 volunteer drivers. We shipped 2.5 tonnes of vital aid to Poland where it was distributed (on the same day in many cases) to Ukrainian people in Poland and within Ukraine.
Objective Two, was to send out five vans full of aid. Even though funding fell short by several thousand pounds, I couldn't leave any donations behind so this became a seven vehicle convoy with over 10 tonnes of vital aid. Trauma, medical, sanitary and food (including 350kg of pet food)!
Job done? No, sadly it's just beginning. With the war raging on, things will deteriorate quickly as thousands more flee to safety and resources become completely overwhelmed. We are ready and waiting to send another aid shipment out ASAP. But I cannot emphasise how much we need your support!
I will be honest, I was quick to sign up to this, and I'm feeling a little left behind. I am seeing donations for similar projects snow-balling while here we are lagging behind and I just ask why? I am not in this for the Glory, I will not even name drop my business name, perhaps I should have followed up BBC and ITV on their interview requests? I just didn't think it was appropriate. Either way, not being able to deliver this much needed help is breaking my heart and the more invested myself and my team of volunteers become into this tragedy, the harder it is not to be able to assist.
Sadly my personal savings only go so far. I have stretched the purse strings and no longer have any further disposable income. It has now come to the point where without funding I and a team of volunteers cannot deliver any more donations to where they are needed.
So many of you have kindly donated your time, money, love and energy. We need more people involved. Please can I ask you kindly, to keep spreading the word, at every opportunity. The higher the funding, the more vehicles and assistance that can be delivered. All assistance is on a volunteer and not for profit basis. Funds raised will be used strictly for transports costs and charitable donations on the ground.
We are not in it for the glory, we are in it for the good. Please help us!
If you are able to offer sponsorship, especially on vehicle use, this would save hundreds in costs. Please please get in touch. If you can help with bulk donations of medical equipment and first aid this would also make a huge difference to thousands of peoples lives. Please get in touch. We are also happy to support other local projects that are collecting but suffering logistics hurdles but we cannot achieve this without the funding.
Finally if you would be happy to donate your time and assistance please get in touch via Whatsapp on +44 7929 550014. All excess funds that cannot be used for our campaign or to offer help on the ground will be donated to the Red Cross.
