Highlands for Ukraine seeks donations to send to civilians living in war zone
Wheeled shopping bags, headphones and USB-connected shoe dryers are on a wish list drawn up by a Highland charity sending aid to a European war zone.
Highlands for Ukraine, which is starting its winter campaign, has been asked to provide a range of items for the Heart of Odesa charity which supports civilians living in danger zones close to the front lines of the Russian invasion.
The Highland charity is appealing to the public for support and donations while supermarkets in the Highlands are also making it possible this autumn for their shoppers to donate small items to the charity from their weekly shop.
The first to hold a collection will be the Tesco store at the Inverness Retail Park in Eastfield Way. There will a collection at the store entrance on Friday from 10am to 6pm.
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Maryna Kudriavtseva helps run Highlands for Ukraine while her best friend from her school days, Lena Maksimova, is still living in Odesa and helps distribute the aid.
“We held several of these appeals last autumn and were overwhelmed by the amount of generous donations we received,” Maryna said.
“We realise it will be harder this year because of the cost-of-living crisis we’re facing in the UK, but hopefully Inverness shoppers can still find it in their hearts to buy at least a small item to donate.”
Each day since the war in Ukraine began two-and-a-half years ago, civilians are being killed, injured, and made homeless in the areas the charity serves.
Most of those living in daily danger are children, elderly, disabled and vulnerable.
The charity says anyone from the communities near Kherson, Kharkiv and Zaporizhzhia who is fit and strong left a long time ago but some simply cannot face leaving their homes for the unknown.
Medical supplies are top of the “wanted” list and Highlands for Ukraine receives considerable help from the four Rotary Clubs of Inverness plus Inner Wheel to provide such items as wheelchairs, crutches, dressings, and syringes.
District nurses and Raigmore Hospital have also supplied out-of-date items which can still be used in a war zone when there is no alternative.
Until recently, all areas of Ukraine had only 12 hours of power a day because of the many attacks on infrastructure.
Some areas, such as Zaporizhzhia, now have no power at all.
As another winter looms, the charity says goods such as gas or solar-powered items, heaters and camping stoves, or small cheap hand and foot warmers are helpful.
Maryna said: “Right now, we even need pens, pencils and notebooks for children who cannot go to school because it is not safe and have to try to learn in the underground systems or bomb shelters.
“And we need things like headphones to help block out the noise of missiles which terrify little ones, not to mention older children.
“Wheeled shopping bags are great for elderly and infirm who cannot carry their few belongings they take to the shelters while, tragically, we need as many incontinence pads as we can get because they are desperate for them in hospitals where they make useful dressings for the many amputees the medical teams have to deal with.
“But just about anything is useful when you have nothing left, not even a home.”
The charity keeps overheads down when sending aid to eastern Ukraine with the backing of an Aberdeen haulage firm which regularly drives lorry-loads of supplies to the Polish border.
From there it can be taken across Ukraine with the help of the World Health Programme which can provide transport for civilians at risk.
Heart of Odesa and other local charities then distribute it to people on the police and local authority “at risk” registers so the people of the Highlands can be sure all aid arrives only where it is needed most.
Helen MacRae, who runs Highlands for Ukraine, said: “That is a vital part of our ethos.
“Many organisations are sending to Ukraine but not all the aid is actually arriving where is can be most effective.
“That’s not to say there aren’t refugee shelters all across Ukraine that need help, but the very worst of the suffering is among those who have not been able to or were afraid to leave their homes in the east where bombings, drones and missiles land on a daily and nightly basis.
“In particular, we are helping set up a shelter for those who have lost their homes and possessions.”
Essentials include anything for warmth, for cooking or to help provide clean drinking water as well as more unusual items like power banks.
More information can be found at h4u.uk.
