Mossgiel Organic Farm’s act of kindness for Ukraine has seen three lorries full of donations head to support those most in need.
The three lorries haven’t even managed to transport all of the donations, such was the kindness from people willing to help out in any way they could.
Last week Bryce Cunningham, from Mossgiel Farm in Mauchline, put out an appeal on social media asking people to consider donating items to help people fleeing their homes in the face of the Russian invasion.
The response to the appeal was overwhelming with people flocking to the Mossgiel Snug in Mauchline to drop off donations, causing the town to be gridlocked.
Since then, a dedicated team of volunteers have been working around the clock to ensure the donations are suitable to be transported.
The first lorry transporting the goods was driven by a Ukrainian driver named Oleksandr, but they ran in to a few issues along the way.
READ MORE: Russia invades Ukraine: East Ayrshire community lend support
The company who own the lorry and employ Oleksandr had a Russian bank account, and sanctions have stopped them being able to make transactions, so he had no money. This was where even more community kindness came in as Carr’s Billington supplied fuel and food to him for his journey free of charge.
Mossgiel’s team have currently stopped taking donations due to the high volume of items they already have.
In the coming days, the plan is to sort out what donations they have and see if they can be transported another way, help another charity, or be stored for future use.
Head of these ideas, Bryce Cunningham has been overwhelmed by the generosity of people and admits things are starting to calm down a bit, after a hectic few days.
WE GOT PICS! . Sooo, we may be a day or two behind - but making sure we get pictures was probably the last thing on...
Posted by Mossgiel Organic Farm on Monday, 7 March 2022
He said: “Up until Friday it has been pretty hectic trying to get all these three lorries across the channel, it’s been a bit of a nightmare to be honest. We’ve successfully managed to get two across, and both of them are in Poland at the minute.
“The first one of them was unloaded on Sunday night and we’re waiting to hear back about the other.
“The third one had been stuck at Dover since Saturday, so we’ve taken a step back and left it with the Ukrainian embassy.
“We’ve got volunteers sorting stuff out that’s left and some of it is going to another group who have got a lorry going across soon.
“The rest of it is either going to charities around here or it will stored for use at a later date.
READ MORE: Ukraine support: Mossgiel donations transport by Ukrainian driver
“There’s chat about trying to sell the items and send across the finances from that to help out.
“The support we’ve had from people donating, and companies getting involved and people helping to sort out the stock and load the lorries and things like that, it’s been overwhelming but it’s been incredible.
“I personally want to say a huge thank you to everyone that has helped out.”
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