Isle of Wight clubs, including the Shanklin 41 Club, Shanklin Rotary Club and IW Austin Car Club, have raised approximately £3,500 towards sending a lorry full of vital supplies to Eastern Europe.
The 17m-long articulated lorry, which left on Monday (February 12) was filled with medical and mobility items collected by East Cowes-based charity MAD-Aid, as well as warm winter clothing.
Each lorry costs between £4,500 and £5,000 to send from the UK to Moldova – and from there it is distributed to centres across Moldova and the Ukraine border.
The items included tourniquets and medication for the Ukraine, as well as equipment and other materials to be used in MAD-Aid’s refurbishment of the neonatal unit at the main children’s hospital in Chisinau, Moldova.
There were wheelchairs and walking aids which will be given to disabled people – mobility equipment is scarce in Moldova, and many are housebound because they don’t have a wheelchair or walker.
MAD-Aid’s Kate Couch said: “Normally when equipment is decommissioned in UK hospitals, it ends up in storage or disposed of in landfill - both are expensive options for the NHS.
“Instead, MAD-Aid can collect these decommissioned items free of charge, so as well as saving the NHS money, the charity prevents as much usable equipment as possible from going into landfill - so we are saving the environment too.
“We raise funds to send equipment to hospitals, healthcare centres and individuals who need it in Eastern Europe and Ukraine - and we work with a large network abroad to ensure donations go directly to people in dire need.
“It's a win-win-win situation and a perfect example of circular economy working at its best.
“We are lucky to have the support of the Island community and we would like to thank these clubs for their fundraising efforts – they really have helped us make a difference.
“It was lovely for Bill Parsonage of the Shanklin 41 Club, who spearheaded the fundraising, and representatives from the other clubs, to be able to help out at the lorry-loading.”
MAD-Aid thanked the Isle of Wight College’s military and uniform public services students for their help with lorry-loading, as well as Red Funnel for their support.
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