On the Saturday morning of 1st April, three 4x4 pick-ups and an ex-NHS ambulance set off from Towcester destined for Lviv, Ukraine. Each vehicle including the ambulance had been packed to their roof linings with over £50,000 of medical aid and other support items. This being the 4th such aid trip sent from the Towcester / South Northants community in recent months,
We are pleased to share that after a very uneventful journey of some 1300+ miles, all vehicles successfully reached Lviv on the Monday afternoon when unloading of the aid was immediately started. Huge thanks are offered to William Francklin and friends who have very much been the driving force behind the fundraising for this particular aid initiative, to all those who so generously donated, Paul Parsons who was project lead, and to members of the Tove Benefice for their significant support in making this trip such a success.
As with previous journeys the three pick-up vehicles were left with Ukraine volunteer contacts to immediately drive to frontline areas some 600+ miles south of Lviv. In this instance the vehicles are to be used for the evacuation of wounded military personnel, particularly in the Bahkmut area where the fighting is most fierce. The ambulance was driven by a Ukrainian priest a similar distance south to Kherson, where it will be used to assist with continued civilian casualties after the recent liberation of the city.
An initial fundraising target set of £20,000 was soon exceeded, with funds raised now expected to exceed £60,000, plus the donation of a vehicle. This enabled the purchase of two further vehicles and a modern ambulance, plus over 4000 quality priority medical and support items, including: 3 Generators and various forms of power packs; 350 lifesaving Tourniquets; 137 emergency stretchers; 550 specialist blood clotting products; 300 bullet wound chest seals; more than 2000 major trauma wound dressings; thousands more hospital grade items; 200 ration pack meals; 100 mobility aids for the wounded….and much more. In addition, the Tove Benefice team collected a huge haul of thousands of surplus medical and mobility aid items from across the county, having approached the NHS and all doctor’s surgeries in the area. These items will go towards rebuilding one of over 120 hospitals that have been destroyed in Ukraine since the start of the invasion.
The aid effort does not stop with this drive, and any additional funds raised will go towards funding further vehicles and aid for drives to Ukraine. If you know of anyone who may be interested in participating either in the UK or driving to Ukraine, please contact Paul Parsons at: paul@southfieldshouse.co.uk
William Francklin, Anthony White and Rupert Douglas-Pennan
