A college community came together on Red Nose Day to help raise money for Comic Relief and a group helping Ukrainian children with disabilities fleeing the war.
Hedleys College, which provides specialist education to young people with disabilities, and Hedleys Horizons, held their sports day at Springfield Park, in Forest Hall, on Friday. The event included a number of sports and fundraising activities including a 60-mile challenge, a sponsored silence and a Sunderland fan wearing a Newcastle United shirt.
The money raised will be shared between Comic Relief and efforts to help families escaping the war in Ukraine.
Read More: Gateshead School donates over 90 boxes of supplies to help Ukrainian families
Gary Nelson, who helped to organise the event with support from the college senior management team, said: "Hedleys College has links with the Step by Step Association in Zamosc, Poland, who have found themselves in a situation they never thought they would be in.
"They are only 60k from the Ukraine border and are supporting families with children who have disabilities fleeing the conflict. They have opened up their accommodation to house refugee families.
"This is all voluntary and the organisation is covering the cost of food, shelter, medical supplies, clothing and more for families arriving with nothing. They are doing an absolutely amazing job."
He said the event would help to raise hundreds of pounds for the two causes and people could still make donations through a Facebook link here, set up by the Percy Hedley Foundation.
The CEO of Step by Step said: "Every day since this horror started we have been supporting families arriving – mostly mums with disabled children.
"We offer them temporary accommodation (we only have 30 places available at a time) and at the same time working nearly non-stop - we are looking for permanent homes for them, mostly in Poland.
"Offering those temporary places to families is expensive and we cover all those costs. We have to buy absolutely everything for those who arrive, they arrive with no belongings and often no money to carry them forward.
"We purchase underwear, clothes, sanitary products, medications, paying for petrol and translators, we also have a call centre which I lead on - luckily a lot of us including myself can speak Russian and Ukrainian too."
