Sunhats and out-of-date Nicorette among useless items donated for refugees
Voyteck Bialek of Together Razem Centre, hosts a meeting between Polish and Ukrainian volunteers, to decided on supports to aid Ukrainians at the Together Razem Centre, West Link Business Park, Old Mallow Road, Cork. Picture: Jim Coughlan
Sunhats and a packet of Nicorette chewing gum which was out of date by two years were among contributions made to a collection in Limerick for the people of Ukraine.
The collection in recent weeks was organised by Anna Mazeika and her sister Kamila and the appeal was for military and medical items. Anna is a member of a Polish group called Pokolenie, which has assisted Ukrainian refugees since 2014.
She said she had a clear list of what was required, including batteries, headlamps, torches, two-way radios, fully-charged phones, power banks, and a wide range of medical items.
She said that two truck loads of suitable items were received from the public.
However, she said: “We got an amount of random stuff, like sunhats, Nicorette for giving up smoking which was out of date for two years. I had gel pads for shoes going out, loads of cables that you wouldn’t know what they were for.”
“I had a very precise list of what I was accepting but the flow of stuff was so huge that we could not filter the incoming items.”
Ms Mazeika said some items were dumped at the door and each bag had to be sorted.
“I have been left with a huge amount of stuff that needs to be skipped and a lot of stuff needs to be recycled," she said.
However, she said there was a great reaction to the collection for Pokolenie, and she is extremely grateful for the many useful items which people donated.
One truck left Limerick last week to travel to Poland for transfer onto Ukraine.
The second truck leaves Ireland on Wednesday, and is due to arrive in Poland on Saturday, where a transfer will also be done.
Two hospitals in Ukraine are among the recipients of the collection from Limerick.
There are also 10 car seats which were donated being sent to a maternity hospital in Ukraine.
Wojciech Bialek, chief executive of the Together-Razem group in Cork, said he is also aware of donations being made of old clothes, which are unsuitable.
Together-Razem was initially set up 16 years ago to support Polish people moving to Ireland but is now working with immigrants from eastern Europe.
Mr Bialek said: “I saw dirty clothing. People are cleaning their closets and they are sending the dirty stuff to Ukraine. And heels and stupid things.”
He said a friend of his working on the Polish border with Ukraine had come across a pair of red stiletto shoes, which featured in recent news reports.
Mr Bialek is also urging people who are donating money to charities to ensure that the charities they contribute to are registered.
“Only registered charities in Ireland should be supported," he said. He is concerned that people’s goodwill towards the Ukrainian people could be exploited through unscrupulous individuals setting up collections.
