A GARDEN centre in Plumpton is raising funds to send an ambulance full of medical supplies to help with the ongoing situation in Ukraine.
The Pot Place is looking to raise £9,500, of which they already have near £7,000, to send an NHS fleet vehicle to a rehabilitation centre in Lviv.
This isn't the first time The Pot Place has lent a helping hand however, having already sent across two vanloads full of supplies to provide relief to those arriving in Poland.
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Co-owner's Paul Thomas and Kevin Roper wanted to do what they could to help immediately as the invasion began.
"After the Russian invasion started, myself like a lot of others, thought you can't sit at home whilst that's happening and do nothing," Paul said.
"Two of our staff are Polish and live in Plumpton, they have connections to their own village in Poland, we made contact through them, and that village had received a lot of women and children arriving from Ukraine and they were short of a lot of things.
"We did our first appeal which was to raise money to take our van out there to take items that they needed really and on our second trip back, we turned our thoughts to where else we could help really.
"Once Ukranian refugees started arriving in the UK, we had one woman arrive in our village and when she arrived, we got in touch and she now works in our garden centre," he said.
Through the help of their new employee Kateryna and her sister, Paul and his team made contact with a rehabilitation centre near Lviv.
"The centre they have there has now received a big influx of those needing medical help, which is both normal people and also the military and again most of them have perhaps lost limbs and in need of extra equipment,” he said.
The group will also be transporting medical supplies from Medical Aid North East and are appealing for donations of walking sticks, crutches and especially wheelchairs.
Paul hopes to have the fleet vehicle sent across by July.
To donate, click here or visit The Pot Place Facebook page for more information.
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