Run 28 – July 2024
Andy then popped up to Scunthorpe to collect an enormous number of boots procured by Anna Pukas James from the engineering department at North Lindsay College in Scunthorpe:
The always generous Mike Kobarenko also loaded him up with a lot of tools for building defences (pics of those later in this post) and more firefighters gear and Annie Hockham added more pads to the load.
Then it was time to go! Andy’s normal co-driver, Tony, couldn’t make it this time so this was a solo run.
A brief stop in Weeze – Mike Gray kindly donated a lot of euro coins which needed to be changed into usable banknotes to use for diesel! Liza kindly did this for us so Andy called in to collect them and a welcome coffee as well!
There was a small hitch at the border with the new process which could have led to a long delay – getting what we needed from Zaporizhzhia was challenging due to the power and internet outages there. But Jimmy managed to get information to Andy quickly and the van was soon on its way into Ukraine. Until he came across a policeman directing traffic down a very narrow lane on the road towards Lviv. This caused quite a delay to the journey as the lane wasn’t wide enough for a bus that had been also sent that way!
After that, it was plain sailing down towards Zaporizhzhia – although the delay combined with curfew did mean Andy had to night stop a little further away from there than originally planned.
Huge thanks to Natal’ya Angel, Marsha and Nataly for some excellent pictures during the unloading:
As is now traditional, it was time for our thank you video. One of the names I forgot was Steve Mackie of North Laines Financial Management who kindly donated 2 laptops which will be going to the educational foundation we have previously supported. Thanks to Eddy for making this happen.
As mentioned in the video, it doesn’t always stop there – whilst Andy was there, some zimmers & a walker were collected and crutches/zimmers delivered to a hospital which included ones from Run 27:
The ladies of the Himars team work tirelessly sorting out clothing for distribution to various refugee centres or individual refugees:
Dogs have been a big part of the story of late and this trip was no exception – in addition to the delivery to the larger centre, items have also been taken to the smaller one and distributed to individual dogs and even to some near the zero line who have been adopted by soldiers:
Our furry friends were also not forgotten!:
This young refugee decided his younger sister would love the Pooh Bear we had on board!:
We had quite a few items that were destined for the front line troops including spades, shovels, pickaxes etc for building new defences, 2 large tents, a box of supplies from Mike Gray, wipes, camp beds, power tools, boots, all of which were collected by the military within days of our arrival:
We always have food on board and once again, the team loose no time in starting to get it where it is needed.
We’ll continue to update here as and when we get pictures but bear in mind that for security reasons, final deliveries cannot always be photographed.
After a good nights sleep, it was time for Andy to head home:
Ukraine is beautiful this time of year with mile after mile of sunflowers.
It’s a long drive from Zap to the border – a minimum of some 17/18 hours but by leaving as soon after curfew ended as possible enabled Andy to get to the border by around midnight. Both Mike & Andy have always managed to avoid joining the queue – was that to be the case again?
After a nice shower, time to start the final leg back to Dunkirk.
So that’s it for run 28 – another successful delivery to people in need in Ukraine.
For run 29 to take place, we need your help! This run used up our remaining funds and indeed, Andy funded the shortfall. Please consider a donation towards the cost of a run – you can do this directly to our account here:
Virgin bank
S/C 050005
acc 07257728
M Hockham
Or use the IBAN number: IBAN 10YORK05000507257728
Or scan this QR code to donate via our SumUp account:
Slava Ukraini!
