An articulated lorry packed with nine tonnes of humanitarian aid collected by big-hearted North Tyneside residents is on its way to war torn Ukraine – with more set to follow.
In little more than a week, volunteers have collected and boxed thousands of much needed sleeping bags, blankets, toiletries, and food to be sent to Ukraine in the wake of Russia’s increasingly brutal invasion of its sovereign neighbour.
The campaign spearheaded by the Lithuanian owners of Benton -based waste removal firm, Newcastle Rubbish Taxi, has reached hundreds of people and businesses across North Tyneside and beyond.
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Organisers Irina Fedonina and her husband Minda Gaudiesius, and his business partner Andrei Prutkovas and his wife Svetlana Galiamova, have been overwhelmed by the outpouring of generosity – so much so they have had to temporarily stop taking donations which still fill a massive room at an office building they have been loaned on the Team Valley Trading Estate in Gateshead to centralise the aid operation.
Now the first consignment has left the region bound for the city of Lviv in western Ukraine, via Lithuania.
The shipment, which is being taken by London-based Jager Freight Ltd that works with the Lithuanian government, includes two pallets each of sanitary products, baby food, dried provisions, rucksacks and toiletries, six pallets of clothes, seven of nappies and one of baby wipes.
On top of that, 1,150 sleeping bags, 1,300 bedding mats, 900 blankets and 250 pillows have also been included.
Newcastle Rubbish Taxi had initially hoped to collect enough items to transport in their own company vans to a Ukrainian aid distribution centre in London.
But as the donations continued to pour in, Irina says they realised they would need an HGV to transport the massive volume of goods arriving from collection points across North Tyneside.
These have included the Sushi Yammi Japanese restaurant in North Shields run by Ukrainian couple Alina Kanishchuk and Jon Kazaakry, which has also been inundated with gifts from patrons, local residents and Morrisons Tynemouth customers.
Irina said: “When everything started in Ukraine we wanted to help. We put out an appeal for donations which we were collecting at our business.
“Then everything went crazy. That is the only word for it. We had enough stuff coming in to make daily trips to London.
“A friend of a friend loaned us the ground floor of an office building in Team Valley as it was taking over our business.
“We still have a room full of donations and the plan is that when this delivery reaches Ukraine we will send another lorry load.”
She added: “We can’t stop saying thank you to everyone who has given their time and support to make this happen and, of course, to the many hundreds of people across North Tyneside who have donated. Our hearts belong to you.
“We knew people would be generous, but we never expected this response. But I think everybody has been shocked by what’s happened, and they still are, and they want to help.
“When they see the houses destroyed and the kids with no clothes and people with nothing to eat, they want to help.
“I think everybody’s heart is breaking at what is happening.”
Newcastle Rubbish Taxi has been supported by an army of volunteers and businesses who have donated their time, use of premises, packing boxes, and forklift trucks over the past week in a bid to ensure the aid reaches its destination as quickly as possible as Russia ramps up its military campaign in Ukraine.
Fighting is intensifying around the Ukraine capital Kyiv, while Russian forces are bombarding cities across the country. More than 1,500 people have died in attacks on Mariupol in south Ukraine alone, and its citizens are now trapped with limited water, food and power.
Lviv - through which many of the estimated 2.5 million refugees estimated to have already fled Ukraine are passing into neighbouring countries – is also now coming under attack.
Irina is confident the aid will get through to its destination in Lviv, however, where it will be delivered to a charity which will distribute it to where it is most needed.
