Wolverhampton haulage firm coordinates monthly donation journeys to Ukraine

Knights Transport Solutions from Pendeford in Wolverhampton will run regular journeys to and from the Polish border as it aims to help people affected by the Russian invasion.

The haulage firm has been collecting donations from all parts of the community, which director Daniel Knight said began after he was contacted by people connected to Ukraine and the aid effort going towards it.

However, the team need to raise £2,000 to help with the costs of the journey.

He said: "Initially, we were talking to a man called Brandon Stanley, whose mother is a Ukrainian woman called Samantha and, because of the situation there, she has started a humanitarian group called Stand With Ukraine for people there.

"He started taking things over in a transporter van, then contacted an old friend of mine called Wayne Vernon, who is one of the organisers for Manna Soup Kitchen in Wolverhampton, who then contacted me to see if we wanted to send over a van.

"I then thought that if we're going to do it, let's do it big, so I'm going to send one of our articulated vehicles on the road to the Polish border and this is something we want to do on a regular basis."

The firm are also working with EuroHire in Oldbury, for whom main contact Lee Hudson has worked over the last week to collate, package and deliver items to Poland, hiring one of Mr Knight's trailers.

Wayne Vernon, a property investor from Wolverhampton, has now formed an Outreach team working with the Homeless and all communities has joined forces with Brandon Stanley and Daniel Knight to help as much as possible.

Diana Madiy, the partner of Mr Stanley, spoke about Stand With Ukraine and the way it had grown.

She said: "What started as one van travelling to Poland to deliver aid has soon grown beyond imagination.

"Using connections in Ukraine, we were able to set up a route to actually get our aid into Ukraine which a lot of charities are not able to do at this time.

"This idea was warmly welcomed in the dance school community with schools from as far as Sheffield and Bournemouth and our local schools of Solihull, Birmingham and Wolverhampton donated so generously.

"This combined with the generosity of the British public overwhelmed us and, luckily, we were saved with the help of Eurohire and Wayne Vernon, we were able to put together a team that would enable us to deliver a lot more aid using lorries and a team of volunteers that enabled us to process and pack our donations."

Eurohire, in its 50th anniversary year, took on the challenge to help and sponsor Stand With Ukraine’s aid mission in order to deliver as much aid as possible in a very short timescale.

Mr Knight said the plan was to transport over items such as water, non-perishable goods, baby wipes, prams, pushchairs and pet food.

The 39-year-old also said that in order to ensure the deliveries can be made on a regular basis, the firm was looking for public help with financing the trips over through a GoFundMe page.

He said: "What we are looking for is help with 50 per cent of the cost for the journeys, which we worked out was £2,000, so we're covering the fuel, ferries and tolls to get the donations over there.

"That'll mean we can then start to do the trips on a monthly basis, which means everything as you look at the shocking scenes on TV and see how everyday people have had their lives turned upside down.

"It's all about giving something back as you never know what might happen in the future and if war ever happened here, you'd hope the people you helped would do the same for you."

To find out more and to make a donation, search for the firm on gofund.me/56850a4f or call 0333 772 2166