McArthur Agriculture is helping to congregate and ship donated equipment for refugees to border towns in Poland, using their depot at Scunthorpe to distribute using their own lorry and other volunteer hauliers. They have been collecting goods from organisations such as schools, churches, even gyms where members have been looking for a way they can help.
The highest priority items, which should be new / unused, are in three categories :
- Food / Medical / Other : baby formula, tinned food, First Aid and Medical Supplies, phone battery packs (to communicate with those still in Ukraine)
- Hygiene and Cleaning : bath / shower / soap, deodorants, toothpaste and brushes, combs, underwear (men, women, children), sanitary pads, disinfectants, filtering / disposable masks.
- Coverings : normal and thermal blankets, sleeping bags, sleeping mattress pads.
To a lesser extent, the following are also needed : cold weather clothing and raincoats.
If any other sponsors or Rugby Club members would like to buy / donate vital equipment, we can use the Club as a local collection point for McArthur Agriculture’s lorries / vans to pick it up. Some members might be involved with organisations who have collected, but do not yet know how to send it onwards. If it is in bulk, we can coordinate vehicle-to-vehicle transfer at a set time.
We hope to have the goods collected in one week’s time, so any donations should be made before midday on Friday, 11 March please.
Another of our sponsors, ADM, has a set up their office at Hemswell Cliff, Lincolnshire as a collection point, and have 30 vans due to go out to Poland in ten days’ time.
The Club is not coordinating a collection for those wishing to give cash : if you wish to contribute this way, the British Red Cross, Choose Love, Project Hope, Unicef, APKMUK, and the International Rescue Committee are among the NGOs taking donations for their emergency crisis appeals.