Donations are reaching those most in need
Supplies and ambulance reach destinations
Drop- off points for those who would like to donate essential items for Ukraine citizens have been set up locally as part of the Tayside and Strathearn Help for Ukraine appeal.
Volunteers continue to work out of the warehouse base at Errol sorting donations and loading up lorries bound for the border with Poland, where much of the refugee effort is concentrated, and also into Ukraine itself.
Essential items, such as first aid supplies, dried food and baby formula, are currently being prioritised.
On Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays, donations can be made in the Strath capital at Crieff Connexions based at Penny Lane in Church Street from 10am to 1pm.
In Auchterarder, donations can be made at the Aytoun Hall on Mondays, 6.30pm to 8.30pm; Tuesdays, 9am to 11am, and Wednesdays, 9.30am to 12.30pm and 5.30pm to 8pm.
Comrie’s Ancaster Arms is the village’s drop- off point and will
be open to accept donations from 10am to 1pm on Tuesdays and Saturdays.
In Dunning, donations can be made at the primary school and the village’s Nisa store, and in Blackford at the Village Store.
Comrie Community Council member Lindsay Brown has been involved with the local effort since it began and will be manning the collection point in Comrie.
He told the Herald that donated items were making it to the heart of
where they are needed.
Some of the donations go to Ukraine refugees arriving in Poland and some are taken across the border to those who have remained in the stricken country.
Lindsay said: “The contents of one of the lorries we sent off two weeks ago were put on to a freight train that has gone from Poland to Kiev. People are not just donating stuff that is sitting in a warehouse; what we are getting in is going out there within a week or so.
“Over the past few days, three lorry loads and an ambulance packed with medical supplies have been despatched from Scotland directly to Poland and Ukraine.
“We have people at the border, such as David Fox Pitt’s team, who are feeding back to us and that connection makes it more real.”
And Lindsay confirmed that an ambulance, donated by Knockhill Racing Circuit and filled with medical supplies, that left on Friday arrived at its destination in Medyka on Tuesday where it dropped off its contents at a medical centre.
It is now hoping to venture in to Ukraine to rescue those who have been injured.
On Friday Lukasz Lutostanski, Consul General for the Republic of Poland in Edinburgh, visited the warehouse to see the work of the Tayside and Strathearn Help for Ukraine volunteers, who have vowed to continue their good work for as long as donations keep coming in.
To find out more about the group’s efforts and keep up to date with supplies required, visit https://tash4ukraine.weebly.com/