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Three vans and a lorry full of donated products left Guernsey this morning to be delivered to Ukraine.
Condor waived fare and freight charges for anyone taking supplies to support the humanitarian aid effort in Ukraine.
Natalia Silvester, along with a group of other women, arranged the donation drive for the war-torn country.
“This is not something I wanted to do, it is something that I knew I had to do,” she said.
“If I have the ability to respond then it becomes my responsibility; I knew I had to do something big.”
Pictured: Natalia Silvester and one of the vans headed for Ukraine.
Ms Silvester, who owns the Love Shack, Crepe Maison and Waffle & Co, has focused all her efforts on organising donations.
“I have dropped everything; I delayed the opening of Waffle & Co, I have cancelled a trip and cancelled a birthday party because helping Ukraine is the most important thing now,” she said.
“The outpouring of support from the community across all the islands has been spectacular; the number of volunteers and donations is endless.
“It shows that there are hundreds of people who feel the pain, who feel the anger, who feel the injustice and they have all come together to help.”
The vehicles were able to travel free of charge thanks to an initiative from Condor.
In addition to waiving charges, Condor’s local freight teams are providing guidance to islanders and handling the paperwork needed for the shipments, which includes transit documents, inventories and export declarations.
Pictured: Three vans and a lorry full of donations are en-route to Ukraine.
Condor’s Media Relations Manager Ian Le Moigne said the company was doing all it could to help.
“We employ a number of Ukrainian nationals on our freight ships, the Clipper and Good Will, and a lot of these staff members are heading home at the moment and we’ve decided to keep their jobs open for them when they come back,” he said.
“We are also fundraising within the company and will be looking at other support measures. It is our duty to help; those staff members are part of the family.”
Sylvia Elek Powley, who helped Ms Silvester’s aid efforts, said that Condor’s contribution was invaluable.
“We initiated the first step of deciding what needed to be done, but without the support of volunteers and companies this would not have been possible,” she said.
Pictured (L-R): Sylvia Elek Powley, Natalia Silvester, Kasia Faluta and Natalie Fielding organised the donation drive.
Ms Powley continued: “Condor helped us with the declarations for the freight and allowed everything to be done for free and that has been such a massive help.
“I have always thought that the people of Guernsey are amazing and I knew they would reach out to help each other.”
Deputy Chris Blin has supported the efforts by volunteering in the collection centre in the former Land of Green Ginger store.
“There has been such a huge effort across Guernsey, the Bailiwick and the world to support Ukraine,” he said.
“Seeing these vehicles full of donations travelling off-island is just the start of a beautiful situation where a huge number of people came together; from one spark, one idea, it has grown exponentially.”
Pictured: Deputy Chris Blin has given up his time to work in an aid collection centre.
Deputy Blin said efforts would continue: “We all know that the tragedy in Ukraine is going to be ongoing and it is very likely that more structured and organised efforts will be coming so we can keep doing our part to support.
“As a Government, we want to facilitate and help as much as we can, in a variety of ways. For example, States’ Property Services have given temporary use of the former education building on the Grange as a central hub for efforts.”
Pictured: Condor has waived fare and freight fees for anyone taking supplies to support the humanitarian aid effort.
Condor Freight Director Steve Champion-Smith said it had already assisted in shipping donations to Ukraine.
“It is really gratifying to see so many islanders who are willing to help and we calculate that we have already transported 100 tonnes of goods,” he said.
“We are also transferring a vehicle from Jersey that is being equipped under guidance from the UK’s Ukrainian Embassy as a first aid, immediate response vehicle.”
Anyone wishing to transport items via St Malo can email freight-dl@condorferries.co.uk or call (01481) 728620 in Guernsey or (01534) 872509 in Jersey.
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