'It has touched us all...' Caithness community effort for Ukraine gets under way
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A community effort is under way in Caithness to gather vital supplies for people fleeing the war in Ukraine.
Collection points are being set up around the county for items ranging from blankets and backpacks to medicines and toiletries.
And it is hoped that use of a lorry may be offered to deliver the goods to a depot in central Scotland, from where they can be transported to those in need.
Wick Laundry manager Caitlin Mowat, one of those leading the local response, said: “Everybody is seeing it on the news and it has touched us all. It's horrible to see.
“I never thought I'd see something like this in my lifetime, especially what's happening to kids and families."
The laundry at The Shore, Wick, is one one several local drop-off points.
Caitlin was motivated to help after seeing a social media post from Touch of Poland, a shop in Inverness owned by Tomasz Sawczuk. It highlighted the need for donations such as blankets, pillows, sleeping bags, tents, backpacks, medicines, nappies, sanitary products, toiletries and powdered baby milk.
“We've got a big van out there so we thought we could do a collection here and maybe do a van-load down to him," Caitlin said. "That was the original plan.
“I put a post up on Monday and it has taken off. We're doing well so far.”
Caitlin linked up with her friends Jacqueline Coghill and Sally Crowe as they were all keen to do something to help.
“They were planning on doing collections as well, so we thought maybe we could do a big collection rather than lots of different little collections,” Caitlin explained. “We've got a bit of a group going now.
“If we could get someone with a lorry to go to Stirling, there seems to be a depot there – and we can get a lorry then from Stirling to go straight to Ukraine.
“We've got a lot of donations already and I know the other girls have started getting donations so we're kind of thinking that a van is probably not going to be enough. We are thinking we could probably fill a lorry.
“Jacqueline and Sally have touched base with some people that have got pallets and pallet wrap. We're hoping to get it all boxed up, put it on pallets, get it wrapped and hopefully put it straight on a lorry and then get the lorry to go to Ukraine."
There are four Caithness drop-off points for donations:
- Wick Laundry – Monday to Wednesday, 8am-5pm; Thursday, 8am-11am
- Stemster House, Halkirk – Saturday, March 5, from 10am-2pm
- St Fergus Church, Wick – Saturday, March 5, noon to 3pm
- Highland Christian Church, Millbank Road, Thurso – Wednesday, March 9, from 2-6pm
The intention is to store all the goods in a marquee at Stemster House before they can be taken south.
Caitlin said: “If they have it labelled in boxes or bags, clearly written what it is, it just makes it simpler.
"And then, if we can get as many volunteers as possible to come and pack up boxes, it will be all hands on deck and we'll make a bit of an operation of it.
"We don't know how big it's going to go."
A million people have fled Ukraine since Russian forces invaded the country, the United Nations Refugee Agency has reported.
Caitlin said: "I don't know if it's real sometimes – is this just a nightmare we're living in?
“You would hope if it happened to us that people would help us as well.
“You want to try and help. I thought, we've got a van, we've got some storage space, we will do what we can.
“I just thought it was going to be a little gesture but it seems to be taking off and everybody is on board.
“Caithness is always good at helping out anyway, but if anybody wants to volunteer more when it comes to trying to sort it all out, more hands will definitely make it easier.
“I'm sure we'll be putting lots of posts on Facebook so keep an eye out on all our pages.”
