Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Scotland Supporting Ukraine: Volunteers driving from Kintore to Poland to deliver much-needed aid to refugees

Greig O'Donnell, representing Herd Hire and Jim Reid who provided the van and insurance, with John Fairclough and Amanda Richardson from Scotland Supporting Ukraine.
Greig O'Donnell, representing Herd Hire and Jim Reid who provided the van and insurance, with John Fairclough and Amanda Richardson from Scotland Supporting Ukraine.

Volunteers have set off from an Aberdeenshire town to deliver much-needed supplies to refugees in Poland.

Scotland Supporting Ukraine has filled a van with essential items to bring to refugees who have fled to camps in Krakow.

Donations have been made to drop off points all over Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire, as well as being sent down from Orkney and Shetland, over the past six weeks.

In a van supplied by Jim Reid Vehicle Sales & Service, John Fairclough left from Kintore on Friday morning to begin the 1,500-mile journey to Poland.

The van was filled with donations of essential items to take to Krakow.

The retained firefighter, and one of the founders of Scotland Supporting Ukraine, first travelled to Poland in March to find out more about the situation in the camps there.

He said: “I had booked a week off work for the football as I was very optimistic about Scotland beating Ukraine. But when the war broke out, football took a back seat.

“I had the flight anyway so I decided to go out and see what I could do to help.”

Supporting refugees in the north-east

The dad-of-two volunteered for three days and said it was “overwhelming” to see the number of children with nothing but the clothes on their backs.

“The kids had nothing. It was very humbling, but I was overwhelmed by the situation,” he said.

Mr Fairclough filmed a video during his time volunteering and shared it on Facebook, which led to Amanda Richardson starting an Amazon wishlist, and the eventual creation of the volunteer organisation.

One of our founders John in Poland last week helping out with aid.This video was the fire in our belly’s to start the Amazon wishlist!!! #scotlandsupportingukraine #ssu #scotlandsupportsukraine💛💙💛💙

Posted by Scotland Supporting Ukraine on Saturday, 2 April 2022

Despite only forming six weeks ago, Scotland Supporting Ukraine has already established drop off points for aid across the north-east, and set up support groups for hosts in four areas in Aberdeenshire.

The first Peterhead drop-in session was held at the group’s hub on Thursday, where essential items have been collected for families over the past few weeks.

The volunteers are supporting Ukrainian families living in Scotland by providing them with a safe space to connect and ask questions, and sourcing any clothing and household items they require.

Scotland Supporting Ukraine founders and volunteers Amanda Richardson and John Fairclough.

“There are lots of people trying to help on a local level,” Mr Fairclough added.

“I kept in touch with people in Krakow who are sharing a live picture of what is needed. The situation is evolving all the time and the aid needed changes regularly.”

The organisation’s newest venture is Backpacks for Bairns, which involves them filling bags with much-needed clothing, toiletries and toys for children of all ages arriving in the area.


Donations can be made via the Scotland Supporting Ukraine Just Giving page