A Renton man has said that he was inspired to help refugees fleeing the war in Ukraine by his tragic niece.
Garry Keggan and some of his colleagues at Paisley builders merchants JW Grant made the gruelling two day journey to Poland to pass on essential supplies to refugees, and said that the loss of niece Emily in 2020 changed his outlook on life.
Emily passed away at the age of eight after a brave battle with a brain tumour, with Garry inspired by her memory to help make a difference.
He told the Lennox: “The family were proud when I told them of the plans.
“We’ve been through quite a hard two years. We lost our wee niece, Emily, almost two years ago now.
“After that I had a wee bit of a different outlook on life. I knew that there were wee kids out there suffering, so the minute I heard about the plans I said to sign me up.
“I couldn’t stop watching the news. When I saw the dads saying goodbye to their kids on the train I knew I had to help somehow.”
JW Grant colleague Andrew McLellan organised the trip, which was initially going to involve just one van - but the company was blown away by the number of donations they received.
Garry continued: “Originally we were going to send one of our articulated vehicles, but we’d have had to change our operating licences.
“We decided to go with a van, but with the amount of stuff pouring through the door it became five vans. Even at that we’ve had to leave a truck that holds about 13 tonnes full and sitting in the yard.
“We’re trying to find another way of trying to get it there.
“We weren’t allowed to take food either because of customs. And that’s probably what is needed most, so we’re hoping to find a way of getting that out there too.
“JW Grant arranged it all, paid all the fees. We didn’t put our hands in our pockets at all. Their support was incredible.”
And Garry explained that the trip had been a life-changing experience.
He continued: “The first thing I said when I got home was ‘don’t moan about anything ever again’.
“When we got there a family had not long arrived who had spent 10 days walking with no change of clothes.
“We had money for buying food and things on the journey. As soon as we got there we just started emptying our pockets of money, snacks. We gave them everything we could apart from the clothes off our own backs.
“We gave a family who got there some euros and the woman had to lie down because she was crying so much thanking us.
“The charity we were delivering to had an office building. And it was completely full with people sleeping on the floor.
“We were opening bags and there were kids being handed hats and scarves and all sorts who were just arriving.
“You like to think that people would do the same if it was you in that situation. But it’s not an easy thing to see.”
Garry added: “I would jump at the chance to do it again. You’re only getting a few sleepless nights and can make a huge difference.”
To donate to JW Grant’s fundraiser visit www.justgiving.com/fundraising/jwgrantukraine.
