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Mar 2022

Last Updated: 03/03/2022

Community

WATCH: Harrogate residents prepare to ship donations to Ukrainian refugees

by Suzannah Rogerson

| 03 Mar, 2022

Sowa Polish shop owner Joanna Papros, Kinga Goldsmith and Adam Goldsmith have been working hard over the past week to arrange for donations to be shipped to Ukrainian refugees who have managed to cross the border into Poland.

https://youtu.be/cMvrHODNdtw

A group of Harrogate residents are working hard to get tonnes of donations ready to ship to Poland to help Ukranian refugees.

Kinga Goldsmith, Adam Goldsmith and Joanna Papros started collecting donations of clothes and toiletries at Ms Papros' Sowa Polish shop on Bower Road.

She said the response was "overwhelming" and the team quickly had to find a space big enough to store all the donated supplies. They have since been storing the donations in a unit at Claro Business Centre.

Clothes, toiletries, nappies and torches are the most requested items for refugees.

As Polish nationals, Ms Goldsmith and Ms Papros have heard from friends of the number of people trying to cross the border for safety. They wanted to help and are grateful to the people of Harrogate for getting behind them.

The donations are due to be driven to Halifax tonight and then later on will be shipped to Poland.

Ms Papros said:

"The people in Harrogate and around have always been so supportive, it's not a surprise we've had such a response. There's no question we just have to help."

The group said they're monitoring the situation and in contact with people on the ground, they said if the need is there they will launch another appeal for donations.