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Edinburgh Live
Edinburgh Live
National
Iona Young

Hero Edinburgh family will drive 1,500 miles to deliver aid to Ukraine victims

A hero dad is completing a 1,500 mile miracle mission with his Edinburgh daughter's help to provide essential aid to those fleeing into Poland from war torn Ukraine.

Dad and daughter duo Piotr and Karolina Dziedzic have organised the monumental trip to supply donations to the Ukrainian people who have lost everything.

The heroic pair, alongside good friend Robert Dluzac, will take the trip which involves driving massive vans packed with donations from across Edinburgh and the Borders across to the Polish border.

READ MORE: Edinburgh donation points where vital aid can be left for people of Ukraine

Families fleeing the terror that has been unleashed on their country over the past week have had to leave their homes and towns with no belongings to get their family to safety.

Dad Piotr, originally from Poland, and his friend Robert knew they had to step in and have been coordinating collections across Edinburgh, Berwick upon Tweed and Kelso.

Speaking to Edinburgh Live Karolina said: "My dad works in Lemon and Thyme restaurant in Kelso, Scottish Borders where people can drop things off and his friend has Star Laundry in Berwick his name is Robert.

"They have decided to set up a go fund me for fuel and anything else will obviously be utilised to help Ukrainian people and charities.

Piotr and Robert will take on the 1500+ mile trip on Sunday.

"I set up the drop off points in Edinburgh I have organised are in that post, collecting stuff at Tattu Edinburgh and a cafe called Lovecrumbs.

"People can message me for personal address but I don’t want to give out too much so drop points are more important and the cut off will be late Friday I’ll go around and collect everything on Saturday morning.

"The ferry is booked for them for Sunday. They will stay a few days and help refugees across border

"I have had hundreds of messages so I think there will be good outcome.

"We are Polish but have lived in UK for 16 years I grew up in borders and moved to Edinburgh for university and still live here whereas he lives in Kelso."

The 23-year-old continued: "My dad will gather everything in Kelso and I’ll gather everything in Edinburgh and Robert will gather everything in Berwick.

"I’m renting a van to take everything to Berwick on Saturday and I think that it will be their starting point

"I'm very proud! I wasn’t expecting this outcome I have hundreds of messages offering help.

"I think he just felt the need as a polish citizen to do his part and with having availability of the truck and realising that’s its possible to help this way they decided to go for it."

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The hero dad wrote on his restaurant's Facebook page: "Hi everyone, Robert Dluzak at Star Laundry and I have decided that we are going to drive a van to Poland next week with as many food/ hygiene products as possible to pass over the Polish/Ukrainian border.

"With little time available to collect everything, we would hugely appreciate any donations. From our research, it has become apparent that these items are most important at the moment:

- Thermal blankets

- Sleeping bags

- Raincoats

- Pillows

- Water purifying tablets

- Batteries and chargers

- Personal hygiene products (deodorant, toothbrushes, toothpaste)

- Sanitary products

- Wet wipes and pampers

- First aid kits

- Baby food

- Foods (canned fruit and veg, anything that doesn’t need fridge, cereal bars, dried fruits, cereal, soup, non dairy milk)

DONATION DROP OFF POINTS

- Lemon & Thyme Kelso open Monday to Saturday 5-10pm

-Star Laundry, Unit 1, 2 Compass Court, Berwick-upon-Tweed TD15 1FB

- Tattu restaurant Edinburgh 18 West Register Street EH2 2AA

- Lovecrumbs, 155 West port, EH3 9DP

DEADLINE DATE- Sunday 6th March by 12pm

The hero dad and his pal will make the 1500 mile journey to Poland on Sunday with vans filled with essential donations for the Ukrainian people and will spend a couple of days there to help refugees cross the border.

There is a fundraising page to support the pair on their mission to help pay for fuel and anything they might need once they arrive you can donate to here.

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