Charting the growth of Lincolnshire aid group Boxes of Hope from shoeboxes in Holbeach dining room to 25th lorry of supplies for Ukraine

A mum’s decision to send shoeboxes of essential items after seeing refugees fleeing war has grown into a group which is preparing to send its 25th lorry of aid.

Television images moved Mandy Baxter to help the people of Ukraine and its troops soon after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine two years ago on February 24, 2022.

And from small beginnings, Boxes of Hope was born.

To say that it has snowballed as the conflict approaches its second anniversary would be an epic understatement.

Not only has it helped thousands in desperate need, overseas and closer to home, the community interest company has also transformed Mandy’s life.

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“I’m so lucky because every day we are doing something to help people and we save lives,” she said.

“We’ve been supplying frontline troops and communities, hospitals and orphanages, and places where people go for refuge and we have made a difference. I really am lucky.”

Mandy’s urge to help others has its roots in another conflict and another tragedy.

In 2008, she decided to send her son Sam and his fellow Royal Marines some shoeboxes of goodies to lift morale during their tour of Afghanistan.

As events unfolded, the morale boost was keenly needed after four marines were killed by a suicide bomber.

“The boxes arrived the next day,” she said.

“Sam said ‘you can’t believe what these boxes have done for us - they really helped take our minds off what happened for half-an-hour’. That always stuck with me.”

Mandy was moved to act again in June 2017 when 74 lives were lost in the Grenfell Tower fire.

The parallels to her own upbringing were clear, having grown up on the eighth floor of a tower block not so far away in Peckham.

An appeal for donations brought such a response that Mandy needed a van and a lorry to deliver them from her Holbeach home to London.

“That day changed my life,” she recalls.

“I had never seen such community and people coming together to do something positive.

“That day I realised there was something in me that needed to do this kind of thing.”

But it would take another five years before this urge took over her life.

Having trained and worked as a chef, Mandy became a reablement carer but while convalescing following surgery on her hand, fate took life in a different direction.

“One day I was recovering and all this just started,” she recalled. Russian tanks and troops had rolled across the border into Ukraine.

“I couldn’t believe what I was seeing - all these women and children with carrier bags of belongings fleeing.

“I rang a friend and said I’ve got to send some shoeboxes.

“I went to the local village hall and there was stuff turning up all the time.”

From a personal mission operating out of her home, Boxes of Hope quickly attracted a raft of volunteers and steadily built a network of contacts in Ukraine.

There are now drop-off points across Lincolnshire, and beyond - at Stamford, Bourne, Lincoln, Ryhall, Spalding, Boston, Holbeach, and Essendine.

And word has spread far further afield.

“I’ve collected from Clacton, Belfast, Plymouth, London. I even had someone ring me from the Netherlands with a pallet of medical stuff to donate.”

The group welcomes donations of ‘anything that can be used’, particularly medical equipment, non-perishable foods, bedding, toiletries, nappies, medicines, and prescriptions that are no longer needed.

The response was such that Boxes of Hope was offered the use of a warehouse at a local garden centre.

As well as overseas aid, the group has also helped refugees here.

“We’ve become a port of call for Ukrainians when they arrive here in Lincolnshire for things like coats and shoes,” Mandy said.

“We’re also helping one or two families a week move into their own places.”

The group also expanded its remit to help families closer to home when the cost of living crisis spiralled.

A community hub was set up in Holbeach high street which hosts a cafe, community events and weekly Citizens Advice sessions on Thursdays.

“It has helped more than 100 families over six months,” said Mandy.

“In terms of what we do, it’s now around half-and-half between helping Ukraine and the community here, although the bit we do for Ukraine is still huge.

“The demand is still there for Ukraine and people are still donating. It’s not as thick and fast as it was, but the warehouse is still rammed.

“We will keep sending aid for as long as we have supplies for the lorries.”

A fortnight-long visit to Ukraine only reinforced Mandy’s convictions.

“When you go out there you realise they are shielding us from all of this coming closer to us,” she said.

“They are so dogmatic and determined to win. I have never met people like it - they have this fighting spirit. Defeat is not an option to them.”

Life as a single mum of three had perhaps prepared Mandy for keeping an impossible number of plates spinning, but the workload, as an unpaid volunteer, eventually took its toll.

Three full-time paid roles were created last year, including Mandy as managing director, to co-ordinate the team of volunteers, paid for by lottery grants and funding bids.

“So after about two years I had my first pay packet,” she laughs.

“It got to the point, probably around September where I knew I needed help - it all started to get a bit much.”

There is little time for reflection, but the scale of what Boxes of Hope volunteers have achieved in two years does sometimes stop Mandy in her tracks

“It has just been an absolute journey, I can’t explain it,” she said.

“I know we need money to live, and I need money, but I have never felt such a humbling and wholesome feeling as I do in my life now.

“It’s the best job in the world, but it’s not a job - it’s a way of life.”