A Moray community has rallied together to send seven vans packed full of donations to the border between Ukraine and Poland.
Anna Rybacka along with her brother and his wife, Piotor and Dorota Cetera, were overwhelmed by the reaction of their plea for help on Facebook.
Ms Rybacka asked people to drop off donations including blankets and non perishable food at the Polish Deli in Elgin on Monday morning, and couldn’t believe it when she arrived at 10am to find bags already piled up outside.
“I felt like the whole of the Elgin community came and helped us and donated, I couldn’t believe it,” she said.
“I was expecting we would fill one van, but we filled the first van in an hour and a half, and by the end of the day we filled seven.”
‘It was heartbreaking’
Throughout the day, people from Elgin and the surrounding areas flocked to the Polish Deli to bring donations and to help sort them for transporting to the AberNecessities hub in Aberdeen.
Ms Rybacka described the floor of the shop being covered with donations, saying it was “like a miracle”.
Though she spoke of the happiness all the volunteers felt at the amount of support, the day was emotional for many.
She said: “People were crying, it was heartbreaking. I am still very emotional, we have a large Ukrainian community here and people were crying and saying they have family there.”
Ms Rybacka is still receiving messages from people wanting to help, but they are not accepting any more donations until those which have already been collected are successfully sent off.
‘I’m so proud’
As well as physical donations, many people also wanted to give Ms Rybacka and other volunteers money for the cause.
This helped pay for petrol for the vans, which was originally going to come out of her own pocket.
They didn’t accept money beyond this, but directed people towards a fund set up by AberNecessities to help set up transport of donations to the Polish border with Ukraine.
Local businesses set themselves up as drop-off points and offered up more vans to cope with the ever growing pile of donations.
Dr Gray’s Hospital, the Elgin vaccination centre and Buckie Dental Practice also donated a large number of medical supplies.
“I’ve never seen anything like it in my life,” said Mr Rybacka.
“I’m so proud of all the people living in and around Elgin”
Ms Rybacka thanked them all and gave a special mention to Peyman Mehdipour, a close friend and the owner of Polish Deli, saying they “couldn’t have done it without him”.
‘Those who are strong get through and those who are not don’t’
Ms Rybacka spoke of her family back in Poland who saved three people who were fleeing Ukraine.
“Two days ago my sister traveled over 600 miles from the north of Poland to save three people who were running from Ukraine,” shes said.
“When she picked them up they said they nearly died, they said they watched people dying on the other side of the border just because they were outside and freezing. They said those who are strong get through and those who are not don’t.”
Although her family live in the north and are not currently threatened by direct conflict, she said they are all worried about what could happen: “We’re very scared the conflict will come to Poland too, I hope not, but everyone is scared just now.”
Despite being physically far from Ukraine, she said the people of Elgin came together to do their bit.
“We never expected the people of Elgin to come forward like that, it was like lots of angels.
“We are so grateful and I will remember this until the end of my life, I won’t ever forget it.”
Find your nearest location drop-off point here.
