The Bridgwater to Ukraine relief lorry left home today to head for the frontline Polish border towns packed with donations from the people of this community to the struggling but heroic people facing down the Russian invasion that we witness daily on our screens yet which they face constantly in their homes and their streets. The Bridgwater-Ukraine relief project was organised by Mario and Gosia Gogolin from the Bridgwater-Polish community through their organisation ‘You are not alone’ and with the help of local churches and the Town Council. Bridgwater Town Council let the group use the Town Hall last week for the delivery and sorting of the donations, staff and councillors helped with the work and today the Town Council voted through £2,000 to pay for the cost of the lorry to get to it’s destination.
As the lorry departed from it’s depot, Mario spoke to the people of Bridgwater “In the last 2 weeks we have been collecting and preparing donations for Ukraine’s refugees. It was a huge project, and without your help it would not have been possible to achieve our goal. We would like to say huge thank you to all who were involved in this action, and to everyone who donated goods, money, and their free time. We would like to say thank you to Brian Smedley Leader of Bridgwater Town Council, who donated his time and allowed us to use the Town Hall in Bridgwater, Kelvin Millis, the Town Hall caretaker, for his time and all volunteers, who were all extremely helpful.”
Thank you to everyone
Mario continued “We also would like to say thank you to Brian and the Town Council for funding the transport cost. Thank you to Vicar Suse, Vicky and all the volunteers form Church of St Mary in Bridgwater. We are taken aback by the outreach of the greater communities in Somerset; Bridgwater & Taunton College, The Engine Room in Bridgwater, Manager of Somerset Diverse Communities Michal Puzynski, the greater communities in Puriton, Wells, Street and Street Baptist Church, The Windmill Inn, and the Polish and Ukrainian community. We also must mention Kasia and the team from Poundland shop in Bridgwater, Anna and Dorota for sorting out the transport, Irena and everyone else who helped organise the boxes, Andrew and James from Drews Uk Ltd who allowed us to store the pallets and helped with loading the lorry, and also Tracie from Sainsbury Street, for donating the boxes.”
Incredible Help
Mario concluded “THANK YOU is not enough to express how grateful we are for all your donations, help and support. The Wonderful people around Somerset managed to collect 33 pallets (over 1000 boxes) of goods for Ukrainian refugees. On Wednesday morning, this incredible amount of donations has been sent to Poland, to organisations such as the Red Cross and other organisations supported by the Red Cross, who are recently helping thousands of mothers and their children, who had to flee their homes and also evacuate Ukraine orphanages. There are now over 1,5 million Ukrainians in Poland and that number could double in the next few weeks.”
Solidarity
Leader of Bridgwater Town Council, Brian Smedley, said “This initiative came from within the Bridgwater community. From Polish people who have made Bridgwater their home and responded to by Bridgwater people who have welcomed them into our community and who are already asking how they can welcome the Ukrainian refugees that will shortly be arriving. The recent Ukraine vigil at King Square was organised by Portuguese people living in Bridgwater and the volunteers at the town hall for the weeklong slog of packing, unpacking, repacking, labelling, sorting, shifting and storing included people from Bulgaria to Chile alongside dozens of Bridgwater volunteers. This has been a truly international relief effort and the world just got smaller and closer, through kindness and solidarity.”