A County Durham grandad who had planned his own funeral after being struck down with Covid last year is now delivering vital aid to people in Ukraine.
Kevin Roddam, 65, believes his recovery from Covid was for a reason and has embarked on a mission to help civilians whose lives have been wrecked by the war with Russia.
The grandad of three from Weardale organised his first aid delivery to refugees in Poland in March and delivered a van load of clothes and food bought with donations. Now the retired engineer is on his third trip and has crossed the Polish-Ukrainian border eight times in three weeks to deliver aid to where it is needed.
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Speaking to Press Association from near Lviv, Kevin urged people to keep donating to the aid effort.
He said: "This is not over by any means, it’s going to get worse and aid is drying up. Please, please keep on donating.
“Let’s keep doing what we have always done as a nation, as the group of caring people that we have always been, and do what needs to be done.”
Thanks to donations from people in the UK, Kevin has delivered bikes and computers to a refugee orphanage near Gdansk, Poland. He has also taken aid to a centre for blind refugees in Ukraine and delivered aid to an area near the Dnipro river which is now being shelled.
Kevin, who has two sons, keeps in daily contact with his wife Christine back in the UK, and she tracks his movements using mobile technology. He sleeps in his van most nights, occasionally staying with friends or in cheap hotels, which he pays for himself, to have a shower and wash his clothes.
Kevin continued: “If people at home think this is all over, they need to look at the live maps which show the fighting. The number of missiles coming into Ukraine is unbelievable and it is displacing more and more people, who are moving toward Poland.
“There’s a fear that there is going to be a real humanitarian outcry and there will not be the food to assist these people who have nowhere else to go.”
To find out more about Kevin's trips, and how to help visit: www.facebook.com/kevin.roddam
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