Newport Rotary club thanks residents for their generosity as they raise £1,700 for Ukraine

The Rotary Club of Newport worked with Newport Rotary Lite to respond to the Ukrainian refugee crisis by organising a street collection on Saturday.

Les Goodchild from Newport Rotary Lite, said: “The Rotary Club of Newport contacted us midweek and suggested a joint street collection on Saturday.

"We were delighted to help, it’s an appalling tragedy unfolding in Ukraine and it’s good to be able to do something positive however small.

“What we hadn’t anticipated was the overwhelming response in the town. Newport has a track record of helping us to help less fortunate people, but I don’t think we’ve seen a reaction on this scale before.

"To have £1,730 donated in only four hours in a town of our size is astonishing generosity, and the way in which people were giving was heart warming too.

"We had people emptying their last coppers out of their purse, through to a lady who very sadly lost her dad at Christmas and gave us the collection from his funeral.

"Some people had family links there, but most were just horrified at what the Ukrainian people were going through and wanted to help. Some people were really quite upset.

“There was a real will to help families who were being split up in such violent circumstances.

“It probably helped a bit that we are quite well known in the town, and people know every penny that is donated will go to those who need it.

"All the money is going to the Rotary Foundation Disaster Response Fund and will be put to good use very quickly.

“A huge thank you to the people of Newport for their amazing generosity.”