A BOURNEMOUTH woman who has flown out to Poland to help Ukrainian families fleeing conflict used a 30-year-old watch left to her by her late mum to fund her visit.
Ashley Cornwell, 50, from Boscombe, felt compelled to help and flew out to Olchowa in Poland where she came across the Senator Hotel.
There, through her non-profit organisation TWCDS, Together We Can Do Something, she has helped house more than 60 families, and is calling for more donations to be sent.
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She said: “I was influenced by Ewan McGregor, sat on my sofa and he said you are going to remember the good you have done, and I bought a ticket to Poland.
“We have had brothers and sisters come here, men come here before they go back to fight. Disabled people, pregnant women, single women.
“These people are so strong. The hospitality they are giving, the warmth, even when people are breaking down.
“I think the atmosphere is as you’d expect in a warzone. There’s not a word to describe it.
“Some of these people are not emotional they are strong, saying they are going to get through this.”
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Ms Cornwell said more than 60 families have passed through the hotel, with a lot of staff giving their wages to help them.
Trucks have had to be sent to the Ukrainian border to bring items donated back to the hotel to help the families, she added.
“People in Poland are so hospitable,” she continued. “This is a wonderful country, it’s a big community like Bournemouth.
“My mum died two years ago, she left me a watch and I have received the money in little bits, I am funding myself with that.
“The most emotional I’ve been, a girl at the local school have her elephant that she had since she was a baby. She put a little toothbrush in and said when the elephant grows tusks could they brush the tusks.
“Please have a little look around and find stuff that is needed. Get on Amazon and buy a book in Polish or Ukrainian.
“This will go on for months and months and months. It’s about having a little think about what people need. They need comforts, pyjamas, blankets.”
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