Stamford, Rutland and Peterborough volunteers deliver Helping Our Ukrainian Friends’ biggest aid convoy

A humanitarian group’s concerns that people may ‘forget’ Ukraine’s plight were eased as it sent over its largest convoy of donated aid.

Drivers and volunteers from Stamford, Helpston and Rutland were among those who took part in Helping Our Ukrainian Friends’ (HOUF) summer mission in June.

As well as five vans shipping six tons of donated goods for frontline communities in eastern Ukraine, the group also hosted its annual summer camp in Poland for families who have lost fathers and husbands to the ongoing war.

“I’m always concerned that we won't be able to get as much aid as before and won't be able to raise as much money, but every time we do a big campaign, it gets bigger,” said HOUF founder member, Richard Astle, from Helpston.

“We raise more money and we get more volunteers involved.”

Richard admitted he was taken aback by one particular day.

On Saturday, June 21, while five HOUF volunteers were running the summer camp, 11 more were driving back to the UK after delivering the aid, while three further members were promoting the group at a community event.

Meanwhile, a frontline team were busy delivering the aid to its final destinations.

“To have so many people involved makes it feel very special to me,” he said.

“One of the successes of our work is that we just keep growing at a time where Ukraine is, in some respects, out of the headlines.”

The summer camps provide respite care for wives of soldiers killed in the conflict, so they can receive daily professional counselling while their children are given activities and a break from their wartime reality.

Part of the money donated to HOUF pays for Ukrainian psychologists to carry out the sessions.

This year, 28 women and their 53 children went to the camp which is run by volunteers from the United States, Poland and Ukraine, as well as HOUF.

“They arrive pretty unsmiling, and maybe a little suspicious, and by the end they still have their grief and all of the issues to face up to, but they had definitely opened up,” said Richard.

“They've made new friends, they can see that there is a little bit of light in the world, that there are people who care about them.

“They're really pleased to see the vans drive up with all this humanitarian aid which has been gathered from communities across the UK thinking about them, wanting to help them.”

Among the first-time volunteers was Sasha, from Rutland, the daughter of Phil Newby who last year raised £7,000 for HOUF and MND from a 24-hour Jukeboxathon.

Richard added: “They say when they're in Ukraine, they don't get a sense that anyone's helping them - they just feel lost and lonely.

“So to come to the camp it gives them a sense of a community that's still supporting them.”

After drop-off, the aid was taken over the border just hours later by truck and arrived in Kyiv a few days later.

Working with four principal charities in Ukraine, Richard said the goods, which included food, medicine and wheelchairs were then being delivered to frontline communities within 24 hours.

While everyday essentials make up the bulk of aid, there is also room for recreational items.

“We took games and things like guitars for the orphanages and homes for internally displaced people, and a keyboard to one of the kindergartens in Kharkiv that we've been working with,” Richard said.

“That's just a nice thing, particularly for the kids and the teenagers to have some things to do.

“It's amazing what works and and what's important.”