John Lewis workers in Milton Keynes pitch in to help organise aid for Ukraine refugees in Poland

A group of partners have forged a relationship with the Red Cross in Poland and last week travelled to Krakow to help them.

They used their logistics knowledge to organise the charity’s warehouse and help them to distribute aid more efficiently.

One of the MK group, Steve Murphy, has described the trip as the most rewarding working week of his life.

He said: “The demands on the Polish Red Cross have been greater than they could ever imagined and they were grateful for any logistics support we could offer on the ground.“Most of our group visiting last week were logistics Partners and in a short time we were able to help organise the warehouse where we volunteered to allow the Polish Red Cross to distribute aid more efficiently.”

Steve, who is an operational support incident manager for the John Lewis Partnership, said the Polish Red Cross workers were “overwhelmed” with their support.

"Our team set up the processes very quickly, applying their skills and knowledge in a slightly different environment. We were told that within a few days we had accomplished what would normally have taken the Polish Red Cross months to complete.”

Two John Lewis colleagues, Vinny and Matty, had also visited Krakow earlier this year, when 12 lorries of perishable foods were sent from the MK warehouse.

Steve said it was clear things had moved on from the first visit, when the support was focused on the needs of hungry and thirsty Ukrainian people who had fled over the border.

"Now many of those in Poland are looking for work and their children are settling into education. While there’s still a need for food parcels, we spent time preparing 3,000 backpacks ready for children from Ukraine to start school. It was reassuring to know that at least some normality was returning amidst the sadness and upheaval.”Steve added: “We came back to the UK appreciating even more what we often take for granted. We all feel privileged to work for the Partnership where we genuinely want to make the world a better place.”