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The sports hall at the TN2 Centre in Sherwood is laid out in clearly marked zones, with shoes, clothes, toiletries, baby equipment such as pushchairs, and more, all neatly sorted. Someone has even brought a mobility chair.
They accept men’s clothes, too, as Ukrainian refugees can include men over fighting age or with medical exemptions.
The Ukraine Relief Group (URG) moved into the TN2 Centre, which Tunbridge Wells Borough Council which was made available without charge, on Friday March 25 – a month after the invasion which kick-started the crisis.
To process the first donations efficiently, the group set up a ‘stop and drop’ arrangement outside TN2, so donors did not have to ‘spend half their evening waiting in a queue,’ explained organiser Rich Akehurst, who has a background in aid, logistics, law enforcement and the military, and whose wife is Ukrainian.
“By the Sunday [March 27], the first Ukrainians came in the door,” he added.
“One woman who came told us she had to keep her hands over her child’s eyes as they were walking along one road, because they were stepping over bodies. This will be a safe zone,” he stressed.
The group takes data security seriously, too, with Rich commenting at one point: “We take documents home as there’s nowhere to lock it at night.”
The group currently has two purposes, he said. One focus is local, welcoming refugees. The other is still directing shipments of help outwards toward Ukraine, having linked up with a group based somewhere north of Lviv.
“Women can cross the border into Poland so they are doing the driving. They run shuttle trips from Poland to the undisclosed location, and from there they distribute to Kyiv,” Mr Akehurst added.
Volunteers come in different ages and at different times of day, with different skills in use at various times of the day, and the URG tries to co-ordinate the work for the workforce.
“The last load we sent out to Ukraine was about four tonnes, and those boxes are quite heavy, so we made sure it was ready when we had people to lift them,” he explained.
“There are retired people, during the day, then in the evenings the 20-40 age range come in and do their thing.”
Visiting in the early afternoon, The Times walked in on a ‘sorting party’ of women seated around a group of boxes for baby gros and newborn vests – as they sorted them into age groups for refugees to clothe their babies.
“I’m working wherever I can,” one volunteer, Maggie, said.
Another volunteer, Lizzie Gripper, showed off the Ukraine sunflowers quilt which she and her Quirky Quilters group had pieced together, ready for basting. “Rich is going to put this into one of the raffles,” she said.
