A car salesman is spending £5,000 of his own money every day to house more than 40 Ukrainian families in Poland. Marcos Castillo told Good Morning Britain viewers he felt compelled to help after watching the news.
The businessman appeared on GMB alongside good friend Bradley Walsh who said the businessman has "the biggest heart imaginable". Marcos' actions have helped more than 150 people so far.
Marcos told GMB hosts Martin Lewis and Susanna Reid that he has bigger plans to find the families a permanent home to set up in. He added that they deserve "dignity" and to "have their lives back".
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Marcos appeared on the ITV breakfast show alongside long-time friend and TV star Walsh, who was speaking from Essex. Walsh told the show that Marcos is a selfless man.
Walsh said: "I met Marcos about 10 years ago through our interest in classic cars. Marcos is the sort of guy that would take in dogs and look after them and his heart is so big. A couple of weeks ago I went to his place of work and I was told that he had gone to Poland to pick up a car.
"I rang him and he was actually on his way to the Ukraine-Poland border to help and he said he could not just sit by and watch this. He said: 'I've got a lot of money. I'm going up there to help out' and the next thing I knew he'd taken over a hotel. I love him dearly. He has the biggest heart imaginable and it's a selfless act."
GMB host Lewis asked Marcos what encouraged him to make the trip. Speaking from Poland, in the hotel he is renting, Marcos explained his actions.
He said: "First of all I was just watching the news like everybody else and I kept getting angrier and angrier every day just feeling bad. I guess it was [Ukrainian President Volodymyr] Zelenskyy that really inspired me because he is such a people's leader. I just kept saying I was going to go and I just went. I didn't really have a plan – I just turned up and I had some help from some of my friends in Portugal to do this thing that wasn't even planned."
Marcos is paying for the hotel rooms of more than 150 people who have had to flee Ukraine. It's costing him around £5,000 per day but the businessman said he can't say no.
He said: "The TV doesn't do it justice at all. If you're here your heart is broken. You can't say no and you just figure out where to find the rest of the money every day and it's just a big juggling act. I just want to help but I don't know what else to do really.
"I didn't really have a plan. You're putting them up, you're guaranteeing them a couple of weeks and hoping that you can figure something else the next day. I've hired a helper here who has been great. Our goal is to get them some place where they can have a home and have dignity and have their lives back."
