A graphic designer and marketing advisor from Leicestershire is heading back to her hometown in Poland to help Ukrainian refugees fleeing there.
Maria Szmit said this weekend she is going back to Jędrzejów in southern Poland, which is about three hours from the Ukraine border.
Her homeland has been the main destination for Ukrainians fleeing Russian bombing following the invasion last month.
The number of refugees who have arrived there stands at around 2 million – more than the total population of the Polish capital Warsaw, which is 1.75 million.
Most have had to flee with the bare minimum, with families having to leave luggage on station platforms to get room on trains.
Maria, a director at Syston-based Lessis Moore Ltd, said: “I am flying to Poland on Saturday March 19 with my partner and we have been raising money to buy much-needed supplies to help my family hometown support the refugees fleeing the war and send humanitarian supplies to those trapped in Ukraine.
“Refugees who have made it to Poland, desperately need day-to-day support when they arrive.
“My family has already helped feed, provide clothes, and even found emergency accommodation for more than 67 people (mostly women and children) and organised support for surrounding villages.
“We want to help them care for these people whose lives have been turned upside down by these atrocities.
“Whilst our Polish community has raised some money locally, they urgently need more funds to get essentials like SIM cards for internet access, food, bedding and money for rent and even coal for warming the place and the water up.
“100,000 people are pouring over the border everyday now, so this is an urgent appeal for help.
“I am Polish-born and I feel like the freedom and lives have been taken from my Ukrainian brothers and sisters.
“I can’t sit here and do nothing while seeing my family struggling to help women and children that sometimes arrive with no shoes on their children’s feet.
“I want to help women that have spent days traveling and often 30 hours on an overcrowded train with no food or water and who are scared to death for their husbands, sons and fathers.”
She said she has already raised more than £1,500 through PayPal and a Justgiving account to buy supplies for families when she gets home.
You can support Maria’s JustGiving page here and follow her Whatsapp reports here.
Alternatively people can donate goods to Leicester Ukrainian Community club – which sends transport every Thursday – by calling 0116 255 2012.
