| | | | | | | | | | | | BBC news: Hope and Aid Direct gets some much needed air time! | |
Dear supporter of Hope and Aid Direct,
I hope you have all had a good Easter weekend and achieved whatever you set out to do, be that a bit of gardening, some DIY or perhaps moving some aid around.
It has been a busy weekend on the world stage, the non-starter of a ceasefire in Ukraine, the continued atrocities in Palestine, an escalation of the civil war in Sudan and South Sudan and then this morning the death of Pope Francis. The world is in a messy and unstable place.
Despite this wealth of news, time was taken on Friday for the BBC to put out two broadcasts in relation to Hope and Aid Direct’s 25 years of operation.
Good Friday morning started with a lengthy 8-minute piece on BBC Essex with Chas and Akylah Rodriguez discussing our achievements over the years and was followed up later in the day by BBC Look East who came to the warehouse earlier in the week to film the loading of a truck that was on its way to Ukraine.
Both interviews, in addition to discussing what we do and how we do it, focused on the cost-of-living crisis and the recent reduction in fundraising as well as the need to find new volunteers.
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The articles did result in a number of donations and newsletter sign-ups, so there will be a number of people on this newsletter who are getting their first newsletter, thank you for listening, signing up, donating much needed funds and / or offering aid.
A big thank you also to Rose Media who helped us push out the story of our 25-year anniversary to the BBC and other news organisations.
Just to pick up on the two main points that these interviews raised briefly. As most of you will know, Hope and Aid Direct is a 100% volunteer organisation run solely on donations. Each truck that we are sending with our current business model costs circa £3200 with on average a truck leaving the UK every 2 weeks for the past 3 years, I will leave you to do the maths in regard to the donations we need to keep those trucks moving!
Fundraising is tough, but the summer is coming, a time where we often see an uptake in challenges, walks, cycles, and community events that have the ability to drive more funds. If there is anything going on in your area we would love to know about it and to try and help promote it for you. We would ideally like to have fundraising coordinator (a nice segway into the volunteering section) to help you raise these funds and to get events off the ground. If anyone has experience in this field or would like to take up a new challenge, then please let us know, there is a role ready and waiting for you.
If that is not a role for you, but you would like to help out in another way, please don’t hesitate to get in touch. From working alongside our admin, PR and social media team to sorting in the warehouse, joining the ever growing knitters army, or maybe to operating your own drop off point and dealing with local collections we can certainly find something that taps into your skills and desires. There is no commitment, lets just have a brief chat to see if we can make something work out. | | | | | | | | | | | | A visit to the UK from Alla of Ukraine on Palms | | Earlier this month, on Friday the 11th of April we were honoured and delighted to be joined by Alla from Ukraine on Palms who was over in the UK accompanying her daughter to a dance competition in Blackpool. She was staying with Chas in Essex, and a number of us joined them on Friday evening for nibbles (which were both lovely and as always easy to overindulge in) and drinks in Ingatestone. It was a great evening, and it gave many of our supporters and volunteers the opportunity to meet up with Alla and discuss directly both the impact their work is doing around the country as well as the requirements going forward in terms of what items are needed for the summer months ahead. On behalf of everyone there I would like to thank Chas and Bev for their kind hospitality, free flowing drinks, and a wonderful spread, I will come again!!!
Alla was kind enough to bring over Ukrainian gifts and chocolates which were distributed as well as one of the last bottles of champagne that was taken by the Ukrainian army from a cellar in Bakhmut ahead of the town being destroyed by the incoming Russian forces, sharing this around was a very poignant moment indeed.
There was lots of fun and laughs which was lovely, however for me personally the evening was brought into sharp focus when Alla said to me, “It’s so lovely standing here talking to you, it feels like summer, the sun is shining, and I am eating melon. Better still I will sleep tonight, there will be no bombs and no air raid sirens.”
Alla and her family are now back in Kyiv, keeping themselves busy, so they don’t have to stop and think about the realities that each day brings them, but comments like this are a constant reminder to us all about why we do what we do and the need to keep helping those less fortunate than ourselves.
| | | | | | | | | | | | In terms of aid, we have been busy as always. There have now been 80 trucks leave the UK for Ukraine as I mentioned earlier, with recent trucks carrying mechanical beds, the hospital type beds, from Stratford and Droitwich which are very much needed around Ukraine. The logistics behind this type of aid isn’t always easy, with bulky items needing to be dismantled and loaded without losing any parts and ensuring the necessary instructions are supplied to put them back together again! Particular thanks to Mark and Roddy who have very much led on this one and of course as always to Chas and the team at the warehouse who make sure that these items are loaded and sent on their way.
This is yet another example of items that are at the end of their commercial life but not useful life getting another outing rather than them being destroyed, recycled or worse still sent to landfill. The whole sustainability side of our operation is something we’re focusing on strongly at the moment with the help of Whitbread / Premier Inn. We are in contact with a number of organisations that may be able to supply us with similar bulk quantity items. As always, if you have any thoughts or contacts please do let us know. | | | | That’s about it for now, we look forward to updating you again about our next load of activities in a month or so and I look forward to the flurry of fundraising suggestions and volunteers 😊!
Love from Chas, Roger and Mark
Hope and Aid Direct Trustees | | | | | | | | | | | |
