A County Durham community is pulling together to help raise money for people in Ukraine amid the "heartbreaking" Russian invasion.
Ruth Foreman and Tanya Mitchell felt "powerless" after watching millions of Ukrainian people flee for their lives on the news but they were determined to do something to help.
Together, they came up with the idea of organising a special 'Consett for Ukraine ' event on Saturday which will have a pop-up café and raffle to raise as much money as possible.
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People can donate as little or as much as they can with Ruth saying she felt "heartbroken" seeing children and families pile out of Ukraine.
She said: "Like many people, I was sitting watching the terrible sights on the TV and just felt helpless. I just wanted to cry for all the families.
"Especially seeing dads saying goodbye to their children as they go off to war, it really pulled on my heartstrings.
"I have got two grandchildren who are one and three and I just think what if that was their dad having to go off to war.
"When I think about being in that situation, it's just heartbreaking so we just want to raise as much as possible.
"I just thought I need to do something so I talked to my friends about organising something."
As well as a pop-up café, children will also be able to plant a sunflower to take home in the hope that when the sunflowers bloom in summer there will be peace.
Ruth said the event will also give people a much-needed chance to be together as a community after a difficult time following Covid-19.
She said: "We were just starting to get back to some normality after Covid-19 and then we get hit with another terrible thing so it's been difficult for a lot of people.
"I thought it would be lovely to get people in the community together because at the moment people in Ukraine can't spend time together as a community.
"It gives people an outlet for their anxiety and allows them to do something to help. We can stand up for Ukraine and raise money for those that need it.
"People can just come along and donate whatever they can no matter how little, it's about coming together as much as it is about raising money."
The event has been organised at a rapid speed with Ruth saying she felt "overwhelmed" by the response from the local community.
She said: "The response from the community has been really overwhelming. I put a post up asking for donations of cakes and straight away I had so many people saying they'd make a cake and scones.
"It's bringing us together as a Consett community. We have quite high deprivation in the area but people are so willing to give what they can and share what they can to help others, it's lovely to see."
The event, which is being supported by Consett Churches Together, is being held on March 12 between 10.30am and 3.30pm at the Citizens House in Consett.
If you would like to get involved or find out more information, you can do so here.
