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15
Nov 2022
Knaresborough couple deliver Christmas toys for children in Ukraine
Children across Ukraine will have presents to open this Christmas thanks to the hard work of a Knaresborough couple.
Retired lorry driver Bob Frendt, who has taken five truckloads of aid to the country since Russia invaded in February, decided in the summer to collect gifts to deliver in time for Christmas.
After appealing for help through the Stray Ferret, he received numerous donations — including a generous £30,000 of toys from one anonymous benefactor. He even had to attach a trailer to his lorry to enable him to take the medical supplies he had been given by Medequip and Andway.
Mr Frendt's wife Maureen travelled with him this time and the couple set off on Thursday, November 3.
However, their plans to hand everything over at the Polish border, as he has done on most of his previous trips, went awry. Mr Frendt said:
Travelling into Ukraine for only the second time allowed him to see where the medical donations would be used, in the hospital in the city of Volodymir-Volynskyi, just over the border.
The couple were also delighted to hand over the 5,000 toys ready to be distributed to children around the country, including in Kyiv, Lviv and Kherson.
Read more:
- Donor to fill Knaresborough man's lorry with hundreds toys for Ukraine
- Knaresborough man appeals for help to bring Christmas cheer to Ukraine
Mr Frendt was also able to present a painting of Knaresborough to a journalist he met during his last visit, who wrote about his efforts in the local paper. He also met one of the 'activists' fighting the Russians, Constantine, who expressed his gratitude for all the couple's efforts. Mr Frendt said:
Returning to Poland, the couple met friends who put them up in a hotel for the night and took them out for dinner to thank them for what they had done.
Bob and Maureen Frendt
They made it back to Knaresborough at the weekend and Mr Frendt is already planning his next trip - though not until the spring, when the weather improves and he has had a break over the winter.
He hopes to set up a family disco fundraiser to help him buy more medical equipment, alongside the donations of kit he regularly receives from companies like Andway and Medequip. He hopes to put on a raffle and it appealing for donations of prizes from local businesses.
He wants to take out defibrillators, hospital armchairs, ultrasound machines and surgical equipment, as well as the tools to maintain them. To do that, he needs more donations from the public – everything from cash to raffle prizes to tools.
He said:
To support Mr Frendt's efforts for Ukraine, or to make a donation, click here to email him.
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