Previous items of aid donated to the charity
The charity Hope for Ukraine has issued an urgent plea for a space in Keynsham that volunteers can turn into a sorting hub in advance of the next aid mission to the war-torn country.
Hope for Ukraine was formed at the start of the war in 2022 and is a registered charity supported mainly by people in and around Keynsham. Dawn Elmer from Hope for Ukraine says a lot of the donated aid has come from Week In readers.
She explained: “We have a strong secure route for our humanitarian aid which is going to people in desperate need who are not being helped by anyone other than the Northern Romanians we partner with. Our trustees have visited twice to see the operation first hand and we hope to send a team out in the spring with another 40ft lorry of aid to help ‘on the ground’.
“We have been requesting babies and children’s clothes and shoes urgently, together with food parcels and ingredients for a bread-making project out there. We were on the point of a big donations drive but have unfortunately lost our sorting hub at the last minute. We were supposed to be getting a space in Keynsham ready for the new year but circumstances changed and it’s no longer available.
“We’re now looking for some space that we can use just for about 12 weeks – the time it will take to fill another lorry – in or near Keynsham. We feel that surely a kind landlord/business could help us out so we’re trying to get the word out. Please can someone help us?”
The charity originally had a sorting hub in Brislington which it had to vacate over a year ago. The team say they have been “limping along” by collecting and sorting in people’s homes ever since. Once sorted, items haulage firm IJ McGill’s in Avon Mill Lane where they are stored prior to being driven to Suceava in Northern Romania. From there the charity’s partners transport it into some of the needy areas in Ukraine.
Volunteers packing and loading at the storage warehouse at McGill’s in Keynsham
The charity’s contact in Romania delivering aid to families in Ukraine
Originally published in The Week In, January 2024. Reproduced by kind permission