Update on our Ukraine Appeal in Partnership with Marine Travel

At Canterbury RFC this past month we have been absolutely staggered by the immense generosity shown by our rugby family, our local community across Kent, and our wider sporting community for those who are suffering in Ukraine.

A manifested 450 boxes and bags have been collected at the Marine Travel Ground as part of a campaign started by our principle partner Marine Travel, sorted by a collective of staff from Marine and volunteers from within our rugby club, and loaded into vans which are being driven by England football fans to Poland where they will be distributed and destined for all corners of Ukraine.

We had collected so many bags and boxes of donated clothes, blankets, sanitary products, and medical supplies, that we had to stop accepting donations several days earlier than planned thanks to the absolutely overwhelming response shown by the communities which we are a part of.

Marine Travel’s amazing staff alongside our volunteer force of 14 took three hours to sort and box everything on Friday 25^th. Then on Wednesday 30^th the same group reconvened to load everything into the vans. We cannot thank our volunteers enough for their time and effort, and we cannot praise the staff of Marine Travel enough for their stalwart commitment to sorting and manifesting everything which was received.

We have united as a club, as a county, and as a sporting community, around the horrific events taking place in Ukraine currently.

Additionally, across two campaigns, one by our partner at BRS Education and the one by Marine Travel, we have raised (so far) a total of £28,467 (Twenty-eight-thousand, four-hundred, and sixty-seven GBP) going to support those in Ukraine.

We cannot thank our principal partner Marine Travel or our partner BRS Education enough for the work they are doing to try and better the situations which people are finding themselves locked into.

Thank you all for donating to our collection, we had no expectation of filling two of our containers with donations.

Thank you to Marine AFC for joining us across sports and across the country in supporting Ukraine.

Thank you to our many volunteers who helped to sort and load everything.

Thank you to England football fans, for driving the massive quantities from our club all the way to Ukraine.

Slava Ukraini.

If you wish to join us in our continued support of Ukraine you can do so by donating to the Marine Travel GoFundMe or BRS Education’s JustGiving