A Cardiff foodbank run from a double-decker bus is set to make a trip to Poland to bring food to Ukrainian refugees.
Nicola Williams, 46, from Caerau, has run local independent charity Cwtch-Up for more than a year. She bought a double-decker London bus last year to convert it into a foodbank, cafe, and advice hub.
But now Nicola is putting the conversion of the bus on hold and instead using it to bring food to Ukrainian refugees in Poland and is looking for donations.
Two million refugees have now fled Ukraine since Russia's invasion, the UN's refugee agency has said, with most travelling to Poland or Moldova.
"We need to get loads and load of stuff to take over," Nicola said. "I'm sending over pasta, tins, rice, and stuff like that but I've got most of that anyway."
Nicola said she was initially planning to send items over to Latvia. "My daughter-in-law is Latvian and her friend from school died during childbirth," she said.
"Her husband was left with twins – tiny, tiny babies – so we were going to send stuff over to him. Within three days of that happening everything kicked off."
Nicola began collecting items to send over to Ukraine from Newport but missed the collection date. "I thought: 'What am I meant to do with this now? I know – I'll send it over on the bus,'" she said.
Nicola said that Cwtch-Up had just opened their baby bank and decided to fill the bus to take the items to refugees. "It's heartbreaking, it's unbelievable," Nicola said of the situation unfolding in Ukraine.
"Watching the news women are having to send their children to stay in Poland and they are staying in the Ukraine. I saw it on the news and I was in bits."
Nicola began buying reduced food from Tesco and Fair Share during lockdown to feed the homeless. She made food parcels with the food she had left over and eventually decided to set up a foodbank.
She had been looking for a portable cabin to use as a base after having to give up her room in Western Leisure Centre. After seeing a red double-decker bus advertised she decided to buy it.
With Nicola unable to convert the bus until the end of the month she decided to put it to good use. "It was sat on my drive doing nothing so I'm going to send it over [to Poland]," she said.
Nicola will be sending the bus to Korczowa, a town near the Polish and Ukrainian border, on March 16 and is currently ensuring that the paperwork is in order. She expects it to cost £3,000 in fuel.
"It's a little village and it's being swamped every day with thousands of people. They go there and they move them on to the other sites then," she said.
Nicola added that the bus will be taken over by a couple of volunteer drivers. "While it was waiting on my drive I decided I was going to take seats out. I've taken out all the seats downstairs so that's empty and that's going to be completely full of baby stuff and food to take over."
The charity won't be accepting clothes but is looking for donations of nappies, wet wipes, baby milk, food, toiletries, first aid kits, batteries, and power banks as well as basic camping gear such as portable stoves and saucepans.
Nicola said she is feeling "very positive" about the plan. "Because my drivers are taking it there I know that everything is going to go where it's needed," she said.
As well as her bus, based in Caerau, Nicola has a unit in Fairwater where people can leave donations. Last year Cwtch-Up delivered approximately 270,000 meals across south Wales.
Nicola has 'food fairies' across the regions who collect donations for her foodbank. Those wishing to donate can leave items at these collection points in Merthyr, Penybryn, and Newport.
You can donate to Nicola's fundraiser here.
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