Emsworth group Bridge to Unity to buy and kit out ambulance for Polish volunteers saving lives on the Ukraine border with £25,000 of fundraised cash

Members of Bridge to Unity will be flying to Poland this week to help purchase and kit out the vehicle – which will be bought second hand – for the use of Zintegrowana Sluzba Ratownicza (ZSR), a Polish voluntary group providing medical care to those caught up in the war.

It comes after one of ZSR’s three ambulances broke down, placing them in urgent need of a new one.

Kamila Czarnik, a volunteer for ZSR, said: ‘We use the ambulances to save lives, we have used them to transport people from the conflict zone but also to transport children across the border and to hospitals for chemotherapy.

‘They are vital to our work.’

It comes after the Bridge to Unity visited the border on March 5 to deliver thousands of pounds worth of medical and essential supplies to ZSR.

The group has been fundraising for the cause for three weeks, raising more than £35,000 in total.

Following their purchase of the ambulance set for March 25, the team will then travel to Krakow where directors Matt Simmons and Mell Clark will spend 24 hours on the streets, sleeping in sub-zero temperatures with only the clothes on their back.

They will be joined by Hannah Jarvis and Liberty Rose who volunteer for the organisation.

Afghanistan veteran and Emsworth resident Matt, 40, said: ‘We are doing this to raise awareness of the appalling conditions that tens of thousands of Ukrainian refugees are having to endure every single day.’

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Mell agreed. ‘With children sleeping in train stations and on the street in sub-zero temperatures and people queuing for hours at checkpoints in freezing conditions, we want to help raise awareness and put pressure on governments to do more,’ she said.

And Queen Alexandra doctor and Bridge to Unity director, Alexandra Kenchington, added: ‘We ask people to visit our Facebook page Bridge to Unity and share our Just Giving page far and wide, the more we raise the more we can do.’

To find out more or donate to the cause visit bridgetounity.co.uk.

A message from the Editor, Mark Waldron

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