People living across Aberdeenshire have come together in the past week to make care packages to be sent to the people of Ukarine.
Susan Emmison and Monika Uszynska have been leading the efforts in the Fraserburgh area, coordinating multiple drop-off points from a central hub in Inverallochy and organising donations as they flooded in.
A large number of volunteers and local businesses came together to help, and today they sent two trucks full of donations to the aid hub in Aberdeen.
Instead of boxing up donations as they came, they decided to make them into care packages, with different ones for men, women and children.
The packages included essentials like soap, toothbrushes and combs, with the women’s ones also containing sanitary products.
“We weren’t just putting things into a bag and chucking it onto a lorry, we had it organised into specific boxes and it was all labeled, the volunteers we’ve had have been amazing,” Ms Emmison said.
Trauma teddies and cards for children
The team wanted to make the children’s care packages special in the hopes of putting smiles on the faces of those who would receive them.
Local children made cards with drawings and messages of support inside, which brought a tear to the eyes everyone volunteering.
Ms Emmison said: “We were all in tears when we were reading the messages, how the kids were saying in their own way from the bottom of their hearts how they’re feeling about it.”
The packages also contained trauma teddies, all of which were knitted by 92-year-old Alice Mitchell.
‘I’ve been in that situation’
Ms Emmison is able to identify with those who have been left with nothing after fleeing Ukraine, because she herself relied on donations after losing everything in bushfires.
“In 2009 my village in Australia was burned to the ground in the Black Saturday bushfires,” she explained.
“I lost a lot of friends and people close to me. One day I owned seven properties and was a wealthy woman then the second day I was bankrupt.”
She related to how those fleeing will be feeling having lost everything, and said: “One day they’ll have been living a normal life with all of their luxuries then the next day they had nothing other than what they were standing in.
“I’ve been in that situation, I had to go to the Salvation Army to get a toothbrush, toothpaste, a comb for my hair, clothing, soap. Although the circumstances are very different, the need is similar.”
‘Emotionally exhausted but elated’
The donation effort in Inverallochy has been contributed to by many.
Though they later became a duo, Ms Emmison commended Ms Uszynska for being the one who started it all and brought the community together.
“She’s just wonderful, she started it all, it takes somebody to start it, people want to help but they don’t necessarily want to be the leader,” she said.
The Sutherland family, who owns Whitelink Seafoods, donated boxes, tape, lorries and staff to transport the goods to Aberdeen. Their involvement “made a massive difference” and quickened the pace of the donation efforts.
Pharmacies donated medical products and the Inverallochy gala committee gave £1,000 worth of baby formula and bottles.
Local woman Jade Koemans set up an Amazon Wishlist for people who couldn’t get to drop-off points to donate, which sent carloads of deliveries to be added to the towering piles.
Describing what it was like to watch the community pull together, Ms Emmison said: “We’re tired and emotionally exhausted by what we’re seeing but we’re elated at the same time, it’s a strange feeling.
“The adrenaline is pumping so hard with everyone coming with all this stuff, it’s so emotional, I think all of us feel like we’re doing something practical to help.”
