Since the start of the active fighting in Ukraine we have been able to respond with 59 trucks of humanitarian aid, split between 40 tonne and smaller 7.5 tonne vehicles.
There has been a mixture of aid sourced from both individuals and corporates including food, toiletries and sanitary products, baby care essentials, medical supplies, household items, water bowsers/trailers, portable generators, and computer supplies, some of which have been significant donations. More recently, we have delivered mattresses and bedding via our partnerships with Whitbread/Premier Inn and Blackstone Stripout (hospitality/office disposal) the latter has also included small refrigerators. For the most part the aid has been delivered to families, but we have also taken many items to schools, hospitals, health centres and shelters.
Initially our aid was distributed from our partners in Poland, Slovakia, and Moldova but after a few months we established a key partner in Kyiv, Ukraine on Palms, (UOP) for immediate and direct distribution across the region. In 2023 we agreed to donate our truck 'Frantic' to UOP to use inside Ukraine for deliveries along with agreeing to contribute funds towards their operational running costs.
The areas for distribution in the past few months have been the regions of Kharkiv, Kherson and Cherkasy. Our medical aid has been distributed to hospitals in Sumy City, beds taken to the Irpin City Shelter and sanitary products to IDP (internally displaced people) centres. Ukraine on Palms repackage our large quantities of pasta, rice, sunflower oil, beans into smaller packages for individual distribution to families.
There are many thousands of people stranded, who move from one area to another in the hope the war will recede. Most displaced and vulnerable people reside in the east, southeast and Kyiv and many people will have nowhere to go back to. They currently live in temporary accommodation using shelters and municipal buildings and as always it is the elderly and those unwell or disabled who find life extremely challenging.
The number of fatalities and injured is unknown. There are of course many figures quoted but these are very hard to verify. The situation continues to change from one area and one day to another, however what is evident is the large number of Ukrainian people who are now Internally Displaced of Refugees. UNHCR current estimates 3.7m IDP’s, 6.6m global refugees and 14.6m people in need of humanitarian aid. Further details can be found on the UNHCR website.
Many charities and individuals have collected aid and donations and some have sent trucks. At Hope and Aid Direct we aim to ensure that all aid that we take or send to the people of Ukraine is bother requested and needed. So often well-intentioned aid, mainly clothes delivered in black plastic bags, are simply not required and often add to the issues rather than help. At the start of the conflict there were people on the borders taking clothes back from these locations and moving them to Lebanon or Calais.
We have long term relationships with many aid agency partners and their knowledge on the ground is crucial in providing us with a specific needs list which we can procure, sometimes from commercial partners that are able to provide bulk aid. Once we have collected the aid we use our warehouse to sort it very carefully, the load it into either our trucks or Ukrainian trucks returning home and deliver direct to those who most need help. This list is regularly changing and is updated to suit the needs at the time.
Our focus is on both speed and need; we need to be effective but to do this we need to work very carefully with our agency contacts. This crisis is not going to end soon. We know we will need to support people for many years and that this will be one of the most challenging tasks.
We have given hope and aid for twenty-five years.
We have a lot of experience of knowing what needs to be done and how best to achieve this, given the complex border controls and logistics that need to be considered. We always need funds to source particular aid items and to fuel the trucks, so that our volunteer drivers can make the long and sometimes challenging distributions. Please help and DONATE now to allow us to continue this work. Monthly recurring payments are very valuable and where applicable please make sure you check the gift aid box.
BY HELPING US WE CAN HELP OTHERS.
