As there are no salaried staff, all goods and money donated provides aid to people who really need it. Although the charity’s headquarters are in Essex, our volunteers, drop-off centres and corporate donors are UK-wide.
Vulnerable individuals and families are identified for us by our partner NGO's in-country who assist us to deliver the aid directly into the hands of those most in need. Working in this way we can identify exact aid requirements and ensure these items are sourced prior to the departure. Depending on where we are working, when it is safe and time appropriate to deliver aid to a country that requires additional resource, then teams from the UK join together to form a convoy of trucks and drive to reach the country of need. On arrival they can be supported by more volunteers who fly directly, and collectively they help deliver the aid. Currently our business model cannot support people flying into an active war zone, so we are relying on our partners in country being fed by backload trucks (in this case Ukrainian trucks that have delivered goods to the UK and are returning empty).
Often goods are supplied by corporate partners.
In 2023, we partnered with Premier Inn to distribute mattresses that became available with room refreshes.
The video below is the story of this convoy. The film last for 10 minutes, for those of you that don't have that long available today, here is a 2 minute preview. Please return tomorrow to watch the actual film, and of course please sign up to our newsletter to stay abreast of our activities, better still sign up to volunteer.
Our focus and operation will change over the coming months and years considering the needs of Ukraine and other emerging disasters around the world. We have long term relationships with agencies that work in Slovakia and Moldova as well as directly from Kyiv and our specific needs list is constantly updated to allow us to be effective. Necessity and speed are paramount. Our need for volunteers will continue and last for a long time to come; this crisis is not going to end soon.
The charity began in 1999 during the Balkans War and subsequently supported the very poorest and most desperately in-need people of Croatia, Bosnia, Serbia, and then Kosova in particular, until our last convoy there in October 2016. The need there is still great, but the world refugee crisis as it affected Europe demanded our response, in mainland Greece and the Islands of Lesvos, Chios and Samos, as well as closer to home in Calais France. If practical, and achievable, we do and have also responded to other world emergencies. Projects are supported even if truck convoys are not possible.
Since the charity's inception we have delivered aid with a value more than £250 million and supported many in-country projects. Some of these initiatives include provision of a new laundry facility, the rehousing of families and equipment to support schools.
"Poverty is like punishment for a crime you didn’t commit" Mother Theresa.
The charity is lead by trustees Charles Storer, Mark Belton and Roger Wilson, plus members of a core team that deals with Logistics, Transportation, Procurement, Social Media and Admin. To make our operations possible, these are supplemented by;
