12 Milton Keynes schools join forces to send massive donation for Ukrainian refugees

Twelve schools across Milton Keynes filled a storage unit wall to wall with items donated for the Ukrainian Appeal.

Children from reception to year 6, parents, governors and staff all from the schools pulled together to collect, sort and deliver the items.

The schools are all part of the Inspiring Futures through Learning (IFtL) Trust. They are Ashbrook School, Chestnuts Primary, Heronshaw, Holmwood School and Nursery,Olney Infant and Olney Middle Schools, Rickley Park, St Mary & St Giles CofE, Two Mile Ash, Whitehouse Primary and Russell Street School in Stony Stratford.

A spokesman said: "Our group was formed by people that wanted to donate and help. Claire, from Milton Keynes, started a collection at her house, as the word spread, we joined forces and needed bigger storage space.

"Iva, from Ukraine, now living in Milton Keynes, had gathered a massive amount of donations and put us in contact with Cllr Paul Trendall (Councillor for Campbell Park and Old Woughton Ward) who sourced our storage space in Crownhill and help with sorting out the donations."

Kate Holland, head at St Mary & St Giles, said the initiative highlighted the power of working together.

"We are so thankful for all the donations received and for the governors, staff, parents and children for making this happen across our IFtL family of schools, plus our feeder school Russell Street”.

One of the organisers was Diana, who is originally from Romania and now lives in Milton Keynes. She said “What started as a simple text asking for donations from friends and family turned into something amazing.

"As the donations poured in, we had some challenges arranging the transport and we formed a relationship with Nova Poshta Global, a privately-owned Ukrainian postage service based in Maidstone.

"The CEO Club of Ukraine sponsored the transport so it was free of charge. We then found Tarsin London, a Romanian haulage company, who offered to take goods to the Ukrainian border. Between them, both companies have set up a constant flow of collections to reach different regions of Ukraine."

She added: "I am 1000% sure that I chose the right place to move to the in UK (almost 7 years ago). I knew Milton Keynes had a great community spirit, but I never expected it to this extent. The Milton Keynes residents and their desire to help has been overwhelming”