Faversham comes together to support Ukraine

Salvation Army leaders in Faversham have praised the community after local people came together to support an appeal for donations for Ukraine in just four days.

Jonathan and Bethany Munn, Pioneer Leaders of the local branch of the church and charity, were contacted by the town council to help a Ukranian woman in the town run a drive for donations to be sent to Ukraine and neighbouring countries to aid refugees.

Jon explained: “We quickly had a chat with her on Monday and it was clear she just wanted to do something but had no idea how. Then she told us the lorry was leaving on Thursday.”

Quickly, the pair set to work. Jon designed a poster advertising the drive before the couple transformed the Faversham Gospel Mission Hall, where The Salvation Army operates locally, for the appeal on Wednesday.

Beth said she thought around 400 people donated around three tonnes of items to the appeal and hailed it as a huge success.

She said: “Both of us and a team of volunteers worked from 7am till 9.30pm on Wednesday sorting everything out so it could go the following day. There were 30 bags of clothes and the vestry was completely taken up. We had camp beds, crutches and medical supplies.

“People were still donating at 6pm. We were completely overwhelmed at how quickly people responded. We even had a gentleman turn up who said he was a Polish lorry driver and would take anything left over to Poland.  

“Everything seemed to run very smoothly. We’re thankful to everyone who gave up their time to help make this happen. Its easy to feel helpless but this was a practical thing people could do. It was a beautiful example of generosity and people just wanted to give what they could. It shows the power of social media and power of community and it was a very humbling experience.”

Faversham’s appeal has now ended but if you still want to donate to The Salvation Army's Ukraine appeal, you can do so here

It might be that your local church is unable to accept practical donations in aid of Ukraine but you can find out more here.