Call for help

Safe Harbour for Ukraine

On St Patricks Day a bus arrived from Cork to the Polish/Ukraine border and brought home 33 women and children fleeing the war. Four trucks filled with supplies were delivered to people desperately in need. Since then we’ve flown in another 35 people to Ireland and continue to do so.

Everybody was provided with accommodation in homes donated or with host families. All children were enrolled in schools. Many of the adults are now working. It was a success and many strong friendships have been made.

This is a community based project with support from Cronin’s Coaches, Dennehy Commercials, and the enormous goodwill of the Irish people.

We relied 100% on the generosity and kindness of people in Ireland to make this happen.

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your kindness saved lives

What we achieved

donating essential supplies

Delivery of humanitarian aid

We filled a large coach to capacity with humanitarian aid, including food, clothing, medical supplies and six petrol power generators. Most of the supplies were donated. Some, like the generators, we bought in Ireland because they were desperately needed.

We filled another two forty foot containers with supplies and sourced  trucks and drivers to take these goods to the border. 

Goods from the coach and the trucks were unloaded in the Polish town of Rzeszow. Rzeszow City Council used some of the supplies for refugees already in the city. Other goods were transported by the Catholic charity Caritas into Ukraine. We also filled a van managed by a local volunteer who brought goods to the basement of a monastery filled with women and children close to the front line. 

Estimated market cost of goods and truck transport: €67,000

Safe passage for Ukrainians to Ireland

We filled our coach with 36 Ukrainian women and children fleeing the war and drove them across Europe to Cherbourgh. From there we took the ferry crossing to Rosslare and continued by coach to our destination, the Kingsley Hotel in Cork. All costs including coach hire, fuel, food for the Ukrainians, road tolls, ferry crossing, and hotel accommodation was paid for from the money we raised or from generous donations of companies involved. On arrival we gave everybody enough spending money to last them for at least two weeks.

There were a number of people who could not make the coach for various reasons. We did our best to fly them to safety in Ireland where they could join their families. We flew in over 20 more people. All of their flights and travel costs were paid by Safe Harbour for Ukraine.

Estimated market cost: €45,680

Next Steps

€45,000 in second round of funding from Irish Motor industry – This has been spent sourcing medical supplies (Hydrogel Burn Dressings x 8000) from South Africa and the balance will pay for two containers to be transported.

Container 1 – Medical Supplies + Fire Fighting equipment 

Container 2 –  3 x Fire Fighting emergency response vehicles

 

Budget

As mentioned we raised approximately €100,000 for the first phase of this project. We have €20,000 left which will be used in the months ahead to support humanitarian aid for Ukraine. We raised another €54,000 from the Irish Motor Industry. We leveraged this funding to generate value far in excess of €400,000 all of which went to Ukrainian people in need of support because of the Russian invasion. 

accommodation

The biggest challenge was providing accommodation for over 50 people we had brought to Cork. We had no state assistance and relied 100% on the funds we had raised and the goodwill of incredibly generous people.

We sourced seven “own door” accommodations in Cork which were made available for six months or more. These included three bed houses in Glasheen, Tivoli, Kinsale, Douglas, Sunday’s Well, an apartment in Cobh, and an apartment in Blackpool.

Estimated market value over six months: €67,494

(Based on average rent of €1607 per month in Cork)

The majority of Ukrainians that we brought to Cork were accommodated through the generosity of over a dozen families who opened their homes to those in need. We asked all hosts to commit to a minimum of three months and most are on track for lasting six months. Some will go on for longer.

Estimated market value over six months: €115,704

Based on average rent, no addition for food and utilities provided by host families. 12 host families for six months

Vehicles to Ukraine

We worked with two groups of firemen in Ireland to help deliver one fire engine and three emergency 4x4s to Ukraine. Through our contacts we were able to get free shipment of the vehicles from Ireland to France. We also covered the costs of fuel for the remaining road trip and paid for flights back for eight drivers. All of the vehicles are now in Ukraine being used for emergency services. Vehicles were filled with fire fighting equipment including hundreds of professional heat resistant jackets, trousers, and gloves; and specialist equipment such as consaws for cutting victims from vehicles or buildings.

In Addition

6 Additional Ukrainians accommodated in Limerick and Clare.

3 Large van load of supplies donated and delivered to “Free Shops” for recently landed Ukrainians in Cork and Limerick.

1 Car donated to an isolated accommodation centre near Kinsale.

All emails should be sent to john@agreeable.com

Special thanks to Cronins Coaches , the Quinn family in Newry, Nasc, Wojciech, and Dennehy Motors