NEARLY £10 MILLION worth of aid has been donated to Ukraine thanks to the donations given by residents in Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole.
BCP's residents have been thanked by Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelenskyy for the incredible generosity to people in his country.
The mayors of Bournemouth and Bucha, a Ukrainian city where a lot of our donations have been sent, have also thanked the three towns – with both mayors indicating they would like to twin the two towns.
Since the second day of the war in February, Ukraine Relief, formerly known as Help from Bournemouth which operates from Castlepoint, has been accepting close to 2,000 tonnes of aid to help the people of Ukraine during Russia’s invasion.
Read more: Growing Ukraine fundraiser still needs public donations
Karol Swiacki, the charity’s founder, has been amazed at how big his charity has become. He said: “We are now at the point where this organisation, together with Bournemouth, is growing throughout Ukraine.
“We are not just the guys who are sending just the boxes, we have really made our mark in the country.”
It now takes Karol and his team between two to six days to deliver the aid 2,000 miles from Bournemouth to one of four warehouses in Ukraine and Poland.
“We are even delivering aid to the soldiers on the frontline. We are so proud of what we have achieved.
“It’s not just pack the box here and send there; it's really working so fantastically and the mayors and more and more people are interested to work with us because they see the future and they would like to co-operate in matters not only of humanitarian aid.”
Karol also said his charity now needs winter supplies, including winter clothing, to help the Ukrainians get through the cold months ahead.
Bournemouth’s mayor, Cllr Bob Lawton, said: “The deputy mayor and I are both extremely pleased with the response and the generosity of the people Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole.
“Their response has been fantastic and we couldn’t ask for more. It’s a compliment to our response that the mayor of Bucha would like to twin with us and also to personally thank the conurbation’s residents for the supplies of much-needed food and clothing.
“This response has put Bournemouth on the map. Bucha isn’t a large city, but if the mayor is reporting back to their central government and President Zelenskyy is praising us, that is fantastic.”
“All the volunteers at Castlepoint are amazing; they're not paid, they do it out of the goodness of their heart, they're giving their time and effort to help the plight of people who are being struck by devastation.”
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