Nataliya's Story of the Start
From cancelled choir practice to vestry full of nappies to conveyor belt in church to a charity project in a month.
Day 1 of war. Thursday. On Feb 24, 2022, the day the war started in Ukraine, John Mullett, choir master at St Andrews Swavesey, felt moved to replace normal Thursday evening choir practice with 30 minutes of silence followed by compline. Shocked to learn that her native home town was hit by missile attack, Nataliya Moroz, whose parents still live near Kyiv, felt drawn to compline in St Andrews. “I was so overwhelmed by the distressing footage of so many familiar sights, the pain was just unbearable,” says Nataliya. “When I heard that St Andrews is doing something on the first day of the war, I dropped everything and went to the compline”.
Day 4 of war. Sunday. Nataliya phoned Jacqui Fuller, St Andrews church warden, to ask if the church can become a central collection point of basics for Ukrainian refugees. There and then Jacqui agreed.
Day 5 of war. Monday. First donations are arriving and it is much more than we expected!
John and Kareema reached out and offered to step in and design and lead sorting and packing process. Within days the vestry was absolutely full of supplies and John installed a real conveyor belt in church.
Day 9 of war. Friday. St Andrews welcomed 50+ volunteers coming to sort supplies. What originally had been hoped for as a car load of donations turned out to be 3 vans full of packed goods.
Day 10 of war. Saturday. Everything was loaded onto a lorry heading to Ukraine. The lorry was organized by award winning chef Damian Wawrzyniak who closed his restaurant House of Feasts for 3 days to collect and sort donations and has been involved in organizing 11+ humanitarian load lorries in the first month of war alone.
Day 13 of war. Tuesday. Damian is back from travelling to Ukraine to deliver humanitarian aid. John and Kareema met with Damian to discover the wide range of needs of people affected by the war and how quickly these needs change. It was there in the carpark of the restaurant, we got a glimpse into how much direct support charity is needed.
Day 17 of war. Saturday. Nataliya got in touch with Lyudmyla Yankina, who chose to stay in Kyiv to volunteer delivering medicines and essential supplies to immobile and vulnerable people in Kyiv. Once again, we heard the story of brave volunteers risking lives to help others and relying only on donations of people they know. Back here in Swavesey, we personally knew so many people wanting to help and we saw we could help channel the funds to directly support those helping the most vulnerable. Inspired by support of the public and witnessing the need of volunteers on the ground, we decided to start this charity project.
Day 31 of war. Friday. St Andrews Swavesey PCC unanimously approves framework of cooperation.
Day 34 of war. Wednesday. Beca and Ally reach out to Nataliya to discuss sponsoring Ukrainian refugees. While drinking coffee at Swavesey market square, they also discuss the newly born charity and Ally volunteers to organize and admin web site for the project. Missing piece of puzzle is here!
Today… Be part of the team - support those helping the most vulnerable affected by the war in Ukraine (Donate Now) We won’t use any part of your donation to cover our running or living expenses. All your contributions will go straight to those in need. That’s why we are called Direct Support for Ukraine.