Magdalena Timmins could not sleep on the second night of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. At home in Bradford, the 31-year-old received horrified texts from relatives in Poland. Her birthplace, the small border city of Przemyśl, had become the frontline of a growing humanitarian disaster as hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians fled Vladimir Putin’s bombs.
In a message to the Facebook group “Polish mums of Leeds”, Timmins appealed for donations to send to those in need 1,300 miles away. Within hours, her plea had spread across Yorkshire. By Monday, she had raised a multinational army of volunteers and received enough clothes, bedding and medical equipment to fill three 26-tonne lorries.
