Among the exhibitors at Home & Gift in Harrogate this week is jewellery and fashion accessory company PoM (DP1; Stand C41), with co-owners Simon Beck and Chris Holden also promoting the company’s Trowbridge Homes For Ukraine project which is fundraising to bring Ukrainians to the UK to connect with their host families.
“We have so far raised over £30,000 thanks to the generosity of our friends, family and colleagues,” Simon told GiftsandHome.net yesterday (July 17). “However, we are now on our 11th tour, and with each trip costing around £2,500 we need more funds. By mid-July, we will have brought 107 people, nine dogs and seven cats back across Europe into the safety of British homes.”
Explains Simon: “In early April, we bought a 17 seater minibus with the idea of taking aid out to the Ukraine border and bringing people with visas back to UK. We connected with a local group of volunteers who had been collecting aid and set up a Facebook page called Trowbridge Homes for Ukraine and a Just Giving page. The initial plan was to raise £12,000 to fund around three journeys to Poland with us and the other volunteer drivers, covering all our own expenses. The response from friends and family was immense.
“We began to put the word out on social media that a trip was planned and hostfamilies soon started contacting us asking us to help their guests with transport. The van was sign painted, packed to the brim with essentials and our first trip was underway. We figured that if we could get to our first destination, Chelm University in eastern Poland, the rest of the trip would somehow come together. We met with a number of people and soon formed a concrete plan and headed to a disused Tesco hypermarket in Przemsyl Poland which had become a humanitarian aid centre.
“The incredible team at Love Bristol had opened a desk at the aid centre and were helping people to apply for UK visas (not an easy task) and putting them in safe accommodation in church halls and community centres until their visas came through – around 3-4 weeks. There is no government presence at this centre, which is run entirely by volunteers from all over the world doing a fantastic job helping people once they cross the border. We registered as volunteers there for a few days and did whatever was asked of us.
“On our return journey we had ten people and two dogs on our bus. It was a three day journey home with pet pick-ups in Paris. Our guests were all amazing – so patient and grateful for a safe passage.”
Added Simon: “I’ve been asked a few times why we don’t arrange flights rather than doing a lengthy road trip. Well, aside from cost, many of the people contacting us aren’t used to travelling by themselves. They had access to free train travel throughout Europe but negotiating that system in languages they don’t understand and finding hotels and connections is more than many feel able to cope with, especially given the stressful situations that they are already dealing with. Some families also have pets that just aren’t able to travel on aeroplanes.
“Once people board our bus we tell them they can relax and know that we will take care of anything they need. We try to make their trip as stress free as possible as these people have already experienced a huge disruption to their lives. Over the three day bus journey they bond with the others travelling with them, sharing stories, and then have ready made Ukrainian connections once they are in the UK. For a short while we all become one extended family and we feel extremely privileged to be a part of it.
“These advantages became apparent on that first journey. Everyone was so relieved to have us taking care of them and couldn’t believe that we’d driven so far to help them back to the UK. They were so grateful and they actually enjoyed what they considered to be an adventure.
“Of course, there are many worries about the situation back home and tears over the sons and husbands and older family members that were left behind. Some people have lost everything – seen their houses completely bombed and their entire communities shattered. Some are fearful of what the invaders will do next and are desperate to bring their children to safety. Everyone’s experiences and reasons for leaving are personal and varied. We don’t judge, we are here to help them.
“Since that first trip our organisation has brought 120 people – plus quite a few cats and dogs, with passports of course – back to the UK and connected them with their host families. Once we realised how necessary the service was, and how more trips were necessary, we increased our Just Giving target to £20,000 and have recently surpassed that, but the money is now all used up.
“As time goes on, the war in Ukraine slips down further and further down the news headlines and into the back of people’s minds. Yet the need for charity and support is as great as ever. Every bomb or shell that hits a civilian area creates an exodus of people seeking refuge in the West.”
To donate, visit Trowbridge Homes for Ukraine Just Giving page HERE or Facebook page HERE.
To volunteer or help, contact TrowbridgeHomesForUkraine@gmail.com
Top: The Trowbridge Homes for Ukraine minibus.
