Staff and students at a school have donated more than 90 large boxes of supplies to help Ukrainian refugees fleeing the war in their country.
Pupils at Heworth Grange School, in Gateshead, rallied together after a tutorial was held about the conflict. Following discussions and feedback from the student council, it became clear the youngsters wanted to take action and do something to help those caught in the conflict.
Danka Kudlacik, a cover supervisor at the school, who is originally from Poland and has close connections to Newcastle’s Polish Centre, suggested organising a humanitarian aid appeal for the refugees, and the Heworth Grange Appeal for Ukraine was launched on March 4. Donations then began to flood in, with pupils, staff members, parents, carers and the wider community contributing to the appeal.
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The school even received a call from the Nightingale Hospital asking whether they could donate medical supplies such as bandages, slings, and sterile wound dressings. By the end of the week, more than 90 boxes had been filled with over 300 tins of food, 300 toothbrushes, 150 tubes of toothpaste, and piles of clothes and toys.
A team of student volunteers counted, sorted and boxed all the items ready for school staff to transport them to the Polish Centre. A convoy of cars and trailers took the supplies to the centre, where the donations were loaded onto lorries and taken to Poland, where they are already helping Ukrainian refugees.
Miss Kudlacik said: "I want to give a massive thank you to everyone who brought donations for our humanitarian appeal for Ukraine or those who volunteered their time to sort and label everything.
"I'm overwhelmed with the generosity we have seen and I can't thank everyone enough for joining in. We have gathered over 90 boxes of food, toiletries, clothes, and basic necessities – all vital items for those struggling in Ukraine. It's an amazing effort by Team Heworth and I'm very happy that I could have been part of this."
Head teacher Allie Denholm added: "I am immensely proud of our students at Heworth Grange School, and our wider school community for fully getting behind our appeal. The response has been remarkable and the amount of donations we received is more than we ever could have anticipated.
"I would like to thank every member of our school community as you continue to inspire me through your kindness. This is what it means to be part of Heworth Grange School."
