The war in Ukraine continues to cause a humanitarian crisis as millions of people flee their homes and seek refuge elsewhere. Fletchers Waste Management is looking to the future, but they need your help to #RebuildUkraine.

As the war in Ukraine continues to force millions of people out of their homes, Minster Oleksander Kubrakov has revealed the Russian invasion has damaged up to 30 per cent of the country’s infrastructure.

More than 300 bridges on national roads have been destroyed or damaged, and all components of their transport infrastructure have suffered in one form or another.

He said: “If we talk about roads, bridges and residential buildings, I believe that almost everything can be rebuilt in two years … if everyone works quickly.”

This is where the brand-new campaign #RebuildUkraine comes in.

Rebuild Ukraine is a non-profit project led by Fletchers Waste Management and is not looking for monetary donations. Instead, they aim to mobilise pledges of time and resources to create a link between volunteers, media and construction industry leaders.

Gavin Leverett, managing director at Fletchers Waste Management, said: “I was thinking of DIY SOS, but on a grand scale, so this is about people giving their time, energy, resource, car hire, and materials – not people donating food or clothes. It’s all about reconstruction.”

The Fletchers team has previously embarked on a 2,500-mile round trip to Warsaw in Poland with three tonnes of donations from residents and businesses across South Yorkshire.

Now, however, they have so many donations they are struggling to get them over to Ukraine, and instead want to pursue the next step in helping the country.

Gavin added: “I wanted to find a way to harvest people’s goodwill while Ukraine is very much still on people’s minds. It might be some time before we can rebuild Ukraine, but my concern is, if we don’t try to do something now, we won’t have the people ready for when we can go into the country to help.

“I had this idea of a flotilla of white van men going across Europe like we did in our vans to deliver our donations to Poland, and us crossing the border and being directed to various towns to rebuild bridges or rebuild houses or churches or schools. That’s what I had in my mind. Now I’ve got to figure out how to execute it.”

So far, with connections with a charity based not far from Rzeszów in Southeastern Poland, Fletchers Waste Management has bought 100 camp beds, £1250 worth of wellies, £1250 worth of raincoats and £1500 worth of trauma bandages and resuscitation bags, to assist both the front-line efforts and the reconstruction efforts in smaller villages in Ukraine.

The campaign is asking for pledges of time, resources, and any other ways you or your business can help the country.

Gavin said: “It could have been us, and it might be. I haven’t got a voice, and I’ve got to do something, and I don’t know, it frustrates me that I can’t just go and shake someone and say let’s get it sorted out, so this is my voice, in this magazine, to ask for help.”

Find out more and pledge your time and resources now: https://rebuild-ukraine.co.uk/.

You May Also Like