Run 17 – June 2023 – Andy
Run 17 started with the final pickup of aid from Iryna Olyanovska of For Ukraine – Brighton & Hove which is to go via Nova Poshta to their chosen charity in Ukraine.
Iryna kindly gave Andy a bag of food for the trip too – much appreciated!
The next stop was Dover for an Irish Ferries crossing to Calais.
Andy’s first run update came from a somewhat wet Germany!
Due to the poor weather and a lot of roadworks on the A4 Autobahn in Germany, Andy arrived somewhat later than planned at the Medyka border crossing into Ukraine.
In the end, it wasn’t as bad as it looked and he was through in less than 3 hours – which is not bad! The road out of the border was notorious for huge potholes and it was a delight to find a lot of work has gone on since the last run to fill most of them in. Andy did find a few they missed of course….
The next part of the trip got interesting though! Andy totally lost all GPS once he hit Lviv and adding to the pain of that, as preparation for potential invasion from the North, all road signs and mileage markers on the main M6 motorway to Kyiv have been removed! Eventually, he came off the motorway and found some kind people in a town who added some money to his Ukraine cellphone to at least get some GPS coverage back! As it’s impossible, for obvious reasons, to buy a road map of Ukraine in the country, he now has one on order from Amazon for the next time!
Prior to unloading the van in Brovary, there was the small matter of some 40+ parcels to take to Nova Poshta! This is a hugely impressive postal service that enables us to get aid distributed at an extremely low cost. Aid on behalf of Valentyna Skoromets & Oksana Tidman, For Ukraine – Brighton & Hove and a special parcel of gifts for children from Olena Harman were on their way before we even got the van unloaded for Maryna and “Future of the Children of Ukraine”! But first, Borscht!
Most of the aid sent by Valentyna & Oksana was generously donated by Meditech Trust in Eastbourne – huge thanks to them too!
Andy leaves Kyiv now for the return trip. But the job isn’t finished yet! Having an empty van means we can brings things and people back with us too! On this occasion, it’s a bed belonging to a lady now living in Brighton! So next stop, Lviv for this final pick up!
As always, Dyakuyu to Slava and Lina for looking after Andy whilst here in Brovary.
Sadly, the pick up in Lviv didn’t go to plan – the apartment building was right in the centre of the City with no possibilities of parking the van anywhere close to it. We’ll find a way around that for a future run.
Run 17 was the first run where we have worked with the local Ukraine support organisations in East Sussex – it is great to have been able to expand our connections in the South and will continue to work with them moving forwards.
The aid delivered on behalf of Valentyna Skoromets and Oksana Tidman is included in these pictures having arrived at it’s final destination via Nova Poshta and then passed on to a hospital
Finally, whilst this run is over, Mike & Annie are now underway with Run 18! Follow their progress on our Facebook page at Ukraine Fundraiser | Facebook
