Honiton Aid for Ukraine - community reaches out to send aid to Ukraine via Poland

Various groups have popped up to help in the same way – this is how one story unfolded.

Anulka Proszowska and her friend Claire Quick were chatting about what they had seen on the news in Ukraine and wanted to do something.

Looking at social media they saw that many people in and around Honiton wanted to help one way or another. Within minutes Anulka and Claire had decided they had to set up a collection point.

Within a few hours Anulka had spoken to the Honiton Family Church who agreed to the use of the church as a collection and sorting point.

The question was then 'what do we do with the donations?'

Anulka liaised with MAJA Deli, a Polish shop in Exeter, which was looking to send items to Poland via

empty delivery lorries returning to Poland. Having the experience and systems in place to deal with

any requirements this was an ideal solution.

Anulka and Claire said: "We put a couple of posts on social media which were soon being shared and commented on.

"We received dozens and dozens of messages from people who wanted to be involved by volunteering and donating. We were so very grateful and within a short amount of time we knew the plan could work."

Sunday 6 of March was the first day the church was open for deliveries.

The items needed to be sorted and boxed with the contents listed to aid the successful transport to Poland, so with a few volunteers setting up inside the church a trickle of people appeared carrying donations.

Claire said: "Today, people came to bring donations and some stayed to help sort and pack the donations, so many volunteers.

"It was humbling and amazing to see everybody coming together. Coffee#1 and Costa even offered us coffees to keep us going."

In a short time the trickle became a constant stream and the church hall started to fill up with volunteers sorting and packing, whilst others were meeting and greeting the donors so the items were directed to the correct area.

Quite soon there were so many donations and a lack of boxes to pack the donations in a shout out for boxes was posted on social media.

People were going to local shops and supermarkets. seeking out every empty box in Honiton. Even cats were turned out of their comfort space in desperation!

As always, there is a hero of the moment and on Sunday the heroes were Greendale Farm Shop who

went to pick up some of their boxes. No one could remember seeing so many people so happy to see so many boxes! It became apparent that there was a risk of having too many donations that could be processed in the small amount of time available to get to the waiting lorries. The decision was made that no more fabric items could be taken, so the volunteers on the door had to start to filter items and sadly turn donations away. Some donations were diverted to other collection points being arranged by other groups but word soon got back that they too were at bursting point. Following a few hours of hard work by the volunteers the church was finally left with boxes stacked to the ceiling ready for collection on Monday. An update explaining the situation was posted on social media but still donations were arriving on Monday. More boxes had been found with presumably more disgruntled cats so the sorting and packing began again. Luckily, it was a nice dry day so the boxes were chain ganged to the front of the church ready to be packed. Axminster's Total Plumbing Supplies had provided a large van with driver Dave, who helped load some of the boxes. Honiton Wine Bar filled their van and Trip Community Transport supplied a van and Sharon, at the very last minute, took the last remaining boxes to Exeter. Speaking after the event, Claire said: "When we exchanged these couple of texts at the beginning of the week and thought about putting this collection together we would have never thought there would be so many adults, kids and teens coming to help, so many people who would bring donations and so many people coming together to help. "It was inspiring being part of this and really shows what can happen when a whole community comes together and gets unified for a good cause. Honiton, Thank youâ¤" Anulka and Claire would like to say a special thank you to all those who helped, some of who they did not

exchange names with.

Special thanks to local companies Total Plumbing Supplies, MKM Building Supplies, Windmill Garage, Card Factory, Coop, Tesco, WHSmith, Homebase and Iceland Honiton branches all for boxes and packing tape.

To the 40+ volunteers including Nick Downey, the Keene family especially Freya and Martha, Carol, Miriam, Dave the beard, Rachel, Chloe and her two boys, Geoff, Robin, Honiton Foodbank, Cllr Jake Bonetta and the Foodsave team.

Polish shop Maja Deli, Za rogiem Ltd, Radosaw Ostapkowicz Polish shop Maja Deli, Za rogiem Ltd, Radosaw Ostapkowicz za pomoc tez zabraniem naszych zeczy

The donations will be delivered to Lviv in Ukraine. Oksana, one of the organisers from Ukraine, was

very happy to see everything especially all the items for kids, food and medical supplies. Anulka said: "The Honiton community rocks! Thanks to everyone who helped, donated and delivered especially the Honiton Family Church. It was truly overwhelming. Also a massive thanks to my friends Claire and Shane Quick."