Home   News   Article

Subscribe Now

South Warwickshire friends on a mission to take ambulances to Ukraine




FOUR friends are on a mission to deliver aid to Ukraine, having bought two former NHS ambulances which will be filled with medical supplies ahead of a trip to Poland.

Alf Rajkowski, a retired property developer from Hampton Lucy, will be joined by friends Mark Pritchard-Jeffs, Bogdan Letkowski and Richard Timmas for the drive to the Poland-Ukraine border on Wednesday.

The two for NHS ambulances heading to Poland fillled with medical supplies to be driven by Bogdan Letkowski and Alf Rajkowski who funded the purchase were pictured at Snitterfield Sports Club on Monday along with Corrine Elliott, finance director for Ambulance Aid, Dr Tania Herbery of Medical Aid Ukraine and Claudine Pearson, Director of Ambulance Aid Ltd. Photo: Mark Williamson S26/3/22/7948. (55757117)
The two for NHS ambulances heading to Poland fillled with medical supplies to be driven by Bogdan Letkowski and Alf Rajkowski who funded the purchase were pictured at Snitterfield Sports Club on Monday along with Corrine Elliott, finance director for Ambulance Aid, Dr Tania Herbery of Medical Aid Ukraine and Claudine Pearson, Director of Ambulance Aid Ltd. Photo: Mark Williamson S26/3/22/7948. (55757117)

Alf and Mark bought the ambulances and, along with members of the Snitterfield Sports Club, on Monday launched Ambulance Aid, a limited company set up to buy de-commissioned NHS ambulances to be delivered to paramedic services in Ukraine.

The company is working in partnership with Medical Aid Ukraine, a charity collaboration between Ukrainian Medical Association in UK and British-Ukrainian Aid, which has been delivering medical equipment and supplies to eastern Ukraine where there has been fighting between Ukrainian forces and Russian-backed separatists since 2014.

Collaboration with other charities has not only made the trip easier to organise, but also allowed Alf to lend his support, as he explained.

“We wanted to have a good partner to work with because people are doing this off their own back and having problems getting the vehicles over the border to Ukraine,” he said. “We’re getting all that done at this end with the charity we’re working for who’ve got connections in Ukraine already. So logistically, we won’t have any issues with security, we’ve got it all set up, and will make sure they go to the right place. “

He added: “My parents were Polish, and my mother was a refugee from when Poland was occupied by Russia in the Second World War. There’s a lot of history there for my family, so I just feel obliged to help really.

The two for NHS ambulances heading to Poland fillled with medical supplies to be driven by Bogdan Letkowski, left, and Alf Rajkowski, right, who funded the purchase were pictured at Snitterfield Sports Club on Monday along with Corrine Elliott, finance director for Ambulance Aid, Dr Tania Herbery of Medical Aid Ukraine and Claudine Pearson, Director of Ambulance Aid Ltd. Photo: Mark Williamson S26/3/22/7956. (55757118)
The two for NHS ambulances heading to Poland fillled with medical supplies to be driven by Bogdan Letkowski, left, and Alf Rajkowski, right, who funded the purchase were pictured at Snitterfield Sports Club on Monday along with Corrine Elliott, finance director for Ambulance Aid, Dr Tania Herbery of Medical Aid Ukraine and Claudine Pearson, Director of Ambulance Aid Ltd. Photo: Mark Williamson S26/3/22/7956. (55757118)

“I have to say, the team we’ve put together have been absolutely fantastic. They are workhorses. Everybody has donated so much time and energy to make this work in a matter of a couple of weeks.”

Support for the cause has blossomed, with Snitterfield Sports Club having made the first contribution to Ambulance Aid by donating £526, proceeds from a quiz night on Friday (25th March), a generous show of support that Alf has seen spring up around Snitterfield.

“I’m just so thankful to them,” he said. “The sports club only heard about what we’re doing last week and helped straight away. I’ve had a builders’ merchants say they’ll try and raise enough cash for two more ambulances. I’m also going to Snitterfield Primary School who’ve been raising funds for the British Red Cross. The children will get to write messages of solidarity, and also have the chance to go in the ambulance.

“We’ve just got an
excellent response and we haven’t even started yet.”

The hope is that the first two ambulances to head to Ukraine will be the first of many.

To donate to Ambulance Aid, contact fundraising manager, Claudine Pearson, on ambulanceaid.ukraine@gmail.com or visit www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/ambulance-aid-ukraine.

To donate to British Ukrainian Aid’s fundraiser for medical supplies, visit www.justgiving.com/fundraising/medicalaidukraine.

If you are a health care provider in Warwickshire and would like to donate medical supplies, email Tania Hébert at medicalaidukraine.westmidlands@gmail.com



This site uses cookies. By continuing to browse the site you are agreeing to our use of cookies - Learn More