Market Drayton firm sends fourth and final load of donations to Poland

Family-run skip and waste management business A.R.Richards has been collecting and hand-delivering goods to Poland since March.

The team have been showing their support for children and families fleeing the conflict in Ukraine and sent the fourth and final load of donations to Poland last Thursday.

A spokesperson for the firm said: "A.R.Richards would like to extend a huge thank you to everyone that has been involved and helped in some way, whether this was donating, sorting, loading or logistics.

"We really have been overwhelmed with everyone’s generosity and support.

"The driver left our site this morning with our flag and will hopefully send us a photo at the final destination – as always, we will keep you updated, so watch this space."

In March, A.R.Richards sent a team across the border to distribute 544 bags and 26 pallet boxes of Shropshire goods to Ukrainian refugees.

They travelled 1,092 miles with a variety of different goods, including baby supplies, which were being provided to hungry children as soon as they were offloaded.

Sam Richards, financial director at A.R.Richards, said: "We never thought for one minute we would see this conflict in our lifetime and we knew we needed to help in some way.

"A.R.Richards Ltd is fortunate enough to have the facilities, manpower and logistics to be in a position to help.

"We put an alert out to all customers, suppliers, staff and social media (and pulled in a few favours) to ask for donations and contributions towards an artic wagon load of supplies to be delivered to Kalisz, Poland.

"The response we had was overwhelming and we were mind-blown by people's generosity, even down to food for people sorting donations, and money to the drivers for food and drink on their journey.

The team have exceeded their crowdfunding target of £3,500, with the total currently sitting at £3,871.