Newark friends to drive 22 hours to Polish city Przemyśl to deliver aid to Ukrainian refugees

Three friends have decided to take humanitarian efforts to the next level by hand-delivering donations to people who have fled the war in Ukraine.

Matt Palin will be driving 22 hours to Przemyśl, a Polish city 25 miles from the Ukrainian border, in a van with Mateusz Dys and Bogumil Ciszewski on March 21.

Until then, he will be collecting donations.

Matt said that his trip was inspired by a shoe box appeal his mum had organised for refugees of the Bosnian war over 20 years ago.

“I was only ten, but as kids we were creating care packages full of toys, dry food and all sorts for the refugees of the former Yugoslavia,” he said.

Matt and his family ended up befriending a family in Bosnia, who they had sent aid to, and have stayed in touch ever since.

Matt, who lives on Middlebeck, was reminded of this experience when he saw the war in Ukraine on the television and decided then and there that he wanted to help.

“I was watching the news and I saw a family of refugees running out of the country. They were petrified and it just took me back 20 odd years,” Matt said.

“As a parent myself, seeing these children with nothing in the world lose everything that they’ve got made me say to myself and my friends ‘we have to do something,’

“They’ve just had to leave everything behind them, and some of them now have lost family members. There will be children without parents.

“I couldn’t stand by and see that happening. I’m not a war expert, but this looks like it’s just the start for these people.

“We have to act, because if we don’t, who is?”

Matt also decided the trip would be a good way to mark his 38th birthday on March 24 as he couldn’t imagine spending it any other way while the conflict was ongoing.

“It got to planning my birthday and normally, I’d be going for a night out or something like that,” he said.

“I picked up the phone to one set of friends and I thought, ‘do you know what, I can’t do this.’

“I thought, for the first time in my life, I can’t celebrate a birthday by going out with some friends. I want to help.”

He rang his best friend, Bogumil, who has family in Przemyśl and asked if he wanted to join him on the 22-hour drive.

Matt, Bogumil and another friend, Mateusz, who is also going to Poland, will be collecting donations from now until they leave.

“I’m going to take my car and I’m going to be out there myself with my friends visiting all these people,” Matt said.

“I’ll be collecting items from houses in Newark and as far as I need to go. I’ll be doing collections until the van is full to the brim and I’ve got everything in it that I can,” said Matt.

“By the looks of it, we’ll probably easily fill a van load of just items.

“The money we raise will be changed into euros and for every refugee that we can while we’re there, we will go and give the money to them as well.”

Matt is also considering using the money raised via his JustGiving page to buy essential items for the refugees while in Poland.

He is planning to change the donation list in accordance to what he’s told people actually need. For example, he has already asked for no more items of clothing.

Matt doesn’t plan on stopping here and, if this trip goes well, he will do more.

“If the support that I’ve had carries on, we’ll do more trips,” he said. “I don’t want this to be a one-trick pony of an event that just stops.

“I want to do this now so that we do it right and then we’ll hopefully do it again, and again, and again.”

Despite only publicising his trip on Sunday, Matt has already received over £500 in donations from the Newark community on his JustGiving page and dozens of messages from people who want to help.

To donate to the JustGiving page, go to https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-ukraine-with-matt-bogumil-and-mateusz.