'Aid' lorries going to Ukraine...

[Blurp]

My Facebook timeline is suddenly full of requests from people who are filling lorries full of things to take to Ukraine - they're asking for donations of things like clothes, toiletries and food.

None of them seem to mention the name of a charity or any specifics - mostly it comes across as though some random bloke is just going to fill his lorry with stuff and drive it "to Ukraine".

At first I thought it was a great idea, but the more I read the more I'm questioning it. Not that I think the people doing it are dodgy or anything like that, more that I'm not sure how useful it would be.

Like, do they really need lorries turning up all over the place with random stuff inside? I've no doubt that much of the stuff would be useful, but how do they even start to sort through it and match it to people who need it? Where do they even go to drop it off - do they just pick a random road on the border and park there and give it out? I've seen a few people asking questions like this on the posts, but they tend to get ignored or shouted down.

As far as I'm aware, there are no issues with supply of goods to countries bordering Ukraine, so isn't it better to donate money to organisations already on the ground so that they can bulk buy what they need?

Again, I'm not knocking the people who organise these lorries or the people who donate to them; I'm just wondering how useful it really is.

Oh. My local Polish community have rallied to arrange a lorry. I was going to donate san-pro and canned goods to church later this morning as that's the drop-off site.

There have been many pleas from established charities to stop doing this as it causes many logistical problems and is a disruption to the distribution infrastructure. It also means that they have to assign staff and security protection to unscheduled people who don't know what they're doing and didn't come out under any charity's protection.

I know it's more satisfying to feel like you're delivering a directed donation to people in need but it's rarely as straightforward as that.

@m00rfarm

We have friends organising a run to Poland, where the organiser has contacts. Much of the content is coming from Amazon so is new, boxed and labelled. The people on the ground in Poland have requested specific items and this is what is being sent. By all means send money to a charity - I have decided to send items as this is what I prefer to do. None of my money is going towards the salary or running of an organisation on this occasion - it is going to the people who are helping families who have nowhere to live, no possessions and need help. And this is being organised by a team of people who are not taking payment and are doing it because they are good people.

Doesn't it seem crazy though that someone in Poland has requested something, you're ordering things from Amazon here where it is much more expensive than Poland, it's being delivered to you on a van, then being put in another van and driven across Europe towards a war zone to hopefully find the right person in Poland who needs to spend time sorting through a van load of stuff...

When you could have given your £50 directly to someone in Poland who could have bought exactly what was needed immediately from the local shop, got twice as much for the money and no one needed to drive for 20 hours.

My friends cousin who is polish and has family who have fled Ukraine has said they have a camp set up their own camp but supplies are running out as the numbers grow, whilst the charities are working towards assisting all the refugees, the situation is exploding and they're not keeping up. A bit like adults who are not military are staying to fight, lorry drivers are stepping up to boost the aid. I think immediately it's needed, but soon there will be a more constructive plan with streams to productively donate through.
I'm doing both, I've sent a bag of goods on my friends lorry and donated to red cross.

There are a lot of random people on my facebook feed doing this too. I live in a Central European country. I'm not convinced that everyone is genuine. This sort of thing happened in the 2015 refugee crisis and it turned out that a not insignificant number of people were collecting stuff, sorting it for any items with re-sale value and dumping the rest...

And of course many people were (in 2015) and are now, genuine, and wanting to help but the situation got out of control very fast. I worked several evenings on the border at the height of the 2015 crisis making and handing out sandwiches and soup to refugees waiting to cross into the next country. It ended up in chaos there as more and more people who had been collecting stuff simply turned up at our single, hastily erected portakabin dumping bags and bags of clothes as well as tons of food. There was nowhere to store the clothes so they ended up outside in binliners and spoiled due to the weather (the logistics weren't in place to collect them and send them on somewhere else), The refugees didn't need/want them in the main as they'd already received coats, shoes, jumpers etc at other points along their journey and they weren't able to carry piles of extra clothes with them.
A lot of the food ended up going to waste too for similar reasons. Refugees were fed by us 3-4 times a day at the border while waiting to cross and there's only so many packets of biscuits and loaves of bread a family can carry with them while juggling what few possessions they had and their children too.

In the end the government had to put out a call to stop these "random" donations and asked people to donate money to the Red Cross and a couple of other organizations and to check on the website for one organization which was collecting items to see what was actually needed.

People want to help but I think it's better if people donate to organizations which seem to have a plan in place as to how to get the stuff to where it is needed rather than random friend of a friend, person with a van on facebook.
Money is good too but we have to remember that a lot of people don't have any money spare at the moment at all but they might have a coat and shoes which their children have grown out of.

Local man is doing this. But he has a Polish connection. He intends to liaise with the Red Cross on arrival.

I spent £50 on toiletries and if that ends up in the wrong hands then I am not going to loose any sleep over it.

Money is good too but we have to remember that a lot of people don't have any money spare at the moment at all but they might have a coat and shoes which their children have grown out of

Maybe sell those on FB Local or similar and donate that money?

It's always better to give money to aid organisations with experience of operating in conflict zones than just to give random stuff, which can just get in the way.

Agree OP.
It’s the same with schools asking for donations. My DD school messaged parents last night simply saying ‘please bring donations for Ukraine tomorrow’ with no other detail.
Not a clue what’s needed really, so looked at some other similar requests on FB, and have sent DD in with toiletries, hand sanitiser, toothpaste etc, but I’ve not a clue how the school will be delivering all this stuff, or what happens to it next.

Starting to now see the shameful requests from MLM's

Buy (x,y,z) for the children of Ukraine

• All commission will be forwded onto charity x

Why not donate goods, and not profit off people's good will through ranking up your pyramid.

Makes my blood boil

*Doesn't it seem crazy though that someone in Poland has requested something, you're ordering things from Amazon here where it is much more expensive than Poland, it's being delivered to you on a van, then being put in another van and driven across Europe towards a war zone to hopefully find the right person in Poland who needs to spend time sorting through a van load of stuff...

When you could have given your £50 directly to someone in Poland who could have bought exactly what was needed immediately from the local shop, got twice as much for the money and no one needed to drive for 20 hours*

Or even crazier- amazon.pl

Why order to the uk and drive it across when you can order directly and get it delivered by amazon’s existing infrastructure.

The ones I've seen are from neighbouring countries, e.g. Poles in this country wanting to send items (toiletries, blankets, torches etc.) for refugees who have arrived in Poland, not driving things into Ukraine.

@Bickles

I was going to go and buy some stuff as there’s a local collection for a convoy going on Friday. Having read this thread I am going to donate money instead. I was thinking the Red Cross or UNICEF. What’s best?

The national Bank of Ukraine has opened a special bank account. Could always direct deposit into there.

Local news featured somewhere that is doing it. People busy sorting boxes of items. They do have a list out saying what they want and it does specify "new" for things like bedding. They have to get special papers giving permission to transport the items.

But I have no doubt that sadly there will be plenty of scammers about with fake appeals, so my preference is to support a known relevant charity.

It's the same domestically by the way- people like to buy food to give to food banks, but they'd rather have the money than be overstocked with e.g. tuna and have no rice. Then they can buy what's needed, including hygiene items which are less frequently donated.

People should think if it's better to not donate in these circumstances than donate in a way which adds to the chaos. Devote energy to campaigning, writing to your MP etc instead. You don't have to give an outgrown coat that probably won't be wanted (I haven't yet seen anyone crossing the border without a coat on! It's cold!)- recognise that that impulse is much more about you and your need to do something than it is about the recipient.

I think this is important for schools to understand as well. Giving responsibly should be part of kids' education.

There's usually a place where aid workers sort the contents of lorries arriving. They ask for things like blankets and warm clothes and tons tins of food that don't need reheating. Not rocket science to turn up to a distribution center with such things.

@Bunce1

Local man is doing this. But he has a Polish connection. He intends to liaise with the Red Cross on arrival.

I spent £50 on toiletries and if that ends up in the wrong hands then I am not going to loose any sleep over it.

Not sure the issue is that your toiletries might fall in to the wrong hands. More that you could have got £100 of toiletries in Poland. Or maybe the Red Cross really needs to buy food not toiletries. And now they have to look after a man with a lorry load of expensive toiletries when they are busy trying to deal with thousands of refugees.

Maybe sell those on FB Local or similar and donate that money?

Fairly sure back in the day pre internet and anyone being able to set up a facebook “appeal”, tv programmes like Blue Peter used to do appeals where kids would hold massive jumble sales of donated items. Money raised would then be sent to whatever charity was working in the area of need.

Perhaps we should go back to a more old fashioned model.

Yes I don't know why the OP is incapable of realising these lorries are of course actually going to countries dealing with an influx of refugees on the Ukraine border.

This would be a good place to donate money

Lumos is working to help the children trapped in orphanages in Ukraine

www.wearelumos.org/news-and-media/2022/02/23/ukraine-lumos-statement/

bank.gov.ua/en/news/all/natsionalniy-bank-vidkriv-rahunok-dlya-gumanitarnoyi-dopomogi-ukrayintsyam-postrajdalim-vid-rosiyskoyi-agresiyi

This allows people to direct deposit into Ukraine's national Bank for humanitarian aid.

For those who do have warm coats etc to donate I know we have local charities who want that kind of thing, esp with a possible cold snap in March, and if you have nice quality office clothes you don't wear any more there are charities which help with people going for job interviews.

There's no criticism at all if you can't afford to donate money to help Ukraine, just don't make the problem worse with second hand clothes.

@Choppingonions

There's usually a place where aid workers sort the contents of lorries arriving. They ask for things like blankets and warm clothes and tons tins of food that don't need reheating. Not rocket science to turn up to a distribution center with such things.

There are shops full of tinned food, blankets and warm clothes in Poland though. They don't need second hand stuff from 100s of miles away. Aid workers time would be better spent doing other things instead of sorting through donations to take out all the dirty, broken, out of date and unneeded stuff and then organising how to store or dispose of it.

People would be better holding a jumble sale here, sorting and disposing of stuff, cutting out the lorries and sending the money over to buy what is needed.

Thanks for sharing @justfrustrated - that's really useful

@busyeatingbiscuits I was being facetious about the wrong hands comment- sorry

I can see the points, I concede my man might be adding to the stress.

I have donated to the Ukrainian Red Cross too.