‘We thought maybe we could send a few vans’
LESS than a month ago, this community centre was the site for religious services, cultural functions and family parties.
Now it’s been transformed into a bustling hub where thousands of essential items are sorted, packed and sent to desperate people who’ve lost their homes in the invasion of Ukraine. The Newcastle Polish Centre (Osrodek Polski) in Elswick has quickly become one of the central points for donations from people in the North East desperate to do whatever they can to help in the face of the Russian attack.
Every day a huge number of pallets full of food, nappies, batteries, warm clothes, toiletries and more are sent out, bound for locations both inside Ukraine and on the Poland-ukraine border, where hundreds of thousands of refugees are gathered.
The incredible effort began last month, when Kamil Tankiewicz and a number of friends decided to see if they could get enough goods together to load up Kamil’s small van. What they got was far more than just that van could carry.
Kamil said: “We thought maybe we would send a few vans to Poland. After the first day we thought ‘now we’ll have enough to fill a lorry.’ Then it was, we could send ten.”
With the support of Northumberland County Councillor Wojciech Ploszaj the centre became a central hub for many of the donations collected in
Northumberland, while schools, community centres and private individuals across Newcastle all came forward to contribute. Space became an issue, with the centre’s church (big enough to seat 80 people) filled quite literally from floor to ceiling with boxes.
The centre has now secured the help of the NHS in Northumbria, and is storing items ready to be sent at an NHS warehouse in Seaton Delaval. A local haulage company
is also helping out, providing lorries which wait outside the Mapel Road centre to be filled before driving all the goods to Seaton Delaval.
It’s been a huge logistical effort, made possible by the host of volunteers who’ve come forward to help and by everyone in the North East who has donated. Once all that’s been donated so far has been packed and sent, it’s thought around 5,000 to 6,500 full palettes, or about 16 lorries plus a large number of smaller vans will have been sent.
Kamil said: “We never expected it to be so busy. It’s been overwhelming, everyone who has donated or helped is a hero. Poland and Ukraine are neighbours, at times we’ve had a difficult history but this is something bigger than that. This is about helping each other because every single person, regardless of the colour of their skin or what language they speak deserves to live in a free and independent country.
“In Poland, we know what that means because we’ve lived under Russian rule, the years under Communism were brutal, I know that my family lived in fear. So because we know what that’s like, we will do everything in our power to help them.”
Volunteers at the centre are now requesting help from people who have access to lorries in transporting donated goods. Volunteers who can help sort donated goods are also welcome.
There’s more information on how to help at https://www.facebook.com/ osrodekpolski/