Supporting Ukraine | The Frame Breakers

Hi, we are John & Dave, and we run The Frame Breakers public house in Ruddington Village.

Dave, (the pub manager) and I have just completed our 4th trip to Ukraine.

We will be running further events at The Frame Breakers in Ruddington Village to help raise more funds, in support of those in need.

Trip 2 7th may 2022

We are there for 4 full days and will be taking supplies over the border, into the Ukraine. They will then be loaded onto a van and taken to the shelters in Lviv.

We are buying direct from 2 large wholesale outlets in Poland the specific food, water and medical supplies they need. This has all be made possible by the fantastic response to the fund raising at the pub.

Today we are buying 2 washing machines and taking these to a school in Ukraine that is being used as a shelter. They currently have no washing facilities and are doing everything by hand in sinks. We have arranged transport with a team of British people working here and will be going with them tomorrow to get these installed and working.

We managed to get these installed at the shelter, and Dave was able to get the television working by climbing a tree with the aerial!

Now heading back into Poland after a very constructive and extremely rewarding day in the Ukraine. Look at the difference you guys have helped make!

We have more to do, this can’t be a forgotten cause!

Trip 3 27th march 2023

On this trip we provided aid to a children's shelter, sending some medical supplies to the east of the country and meeting a lady to provide food and equipment to support some displaced families in need of help just south of Lviv.

We supported a lady called Anja Konstantynova who recently lost her brother who was defending on the front line. she is supporting her brothers regiment with supplies. We have been able to donate 9 foldable metal shovels to dig their trenches, 9 waterproof full body ponchos for the guys on guard duty.. plus 2 Samsung mini tablets which they use for communications as they are not able to have their mobile phones.

We then went to buy toys and games, plus bags and bags full of kids sweets, which we took to a shelter for orphaned children to try and put a few smiles on their faces, I think we succeeded!

Drop number 2 at a church that is now a shelter, these kids wouldn't stop saying Thankyou and just wanted us to join in playing with the toys!

They have been amazing, welcoming and extremely loving and grateful, it has been an absolute pleasure and honor to visit, deliver the aid and support you in these most awful of times.

Trip 4 9th June 2023

We are off again! Supporting a number of shelters for the 6 days we are here.

We Visited a shelter pretty much in the middle of nowhere. The Streets are just mud roads, and absolutely no infrastructure around them. This shelter is looked after by Wendy Warrington from my Polish/Ukrainian journey and it is where she had one of the washing machines installed that we purchased on our 2nd trip here.

We spent £400 and couldn't fit anything else in the car. We took them a crate of beer, and a couple of bottles of wine as a treat, they were so thankful.

Meat, Cheese, Milk, Pasta, Vegetables, Fruit, flour, eggs, bread, washing powder and personal hygiene items were delivered, plus loads of tins of fish and meat. This will keep them stocked up for a while as they are often forgotten out there.

We took a trip to korsten to a safe house & delivered huge amounts of food and then had dinner prepared for us.

The kids at the shelter in Kyiv were heartwarming, We donated a PlayStation 4 for the shelter which was greatly received by the kids!

Thanks so much for helping us to make a difference even tho it is small on the grand scheme of things, it is making a difference. 950 miles driven so far!

We arrived in Ternopil after on interesting drive from Kyiv.. just when we think we are making good time, we get half way down a road to find it had been completely destroyed and was not passable. U-Turn it was and then via all the back roads, when I say Pot Holes at times there are more of them than actual road left. Anyway, break for the day now, it's 5pm, we left Kyiv at 7am this morning, and tomorrow we have early start, 2 hour drive to a children's refuge just south of Lviv, taking them some toys, treats and lots of food.. also Una the Unicorn is joining us, then onto another shelter North of Lviv!

£900 spent in metro, this will feed 25 families, with essentials and also lots of toys & treats for the kids. we have just arrived and they have made us a meal, then the kids will be out to get their gifts.

It was Two shelters today, and this one is always crazy! The kids are wild with excitement and start screaming and hugging you. We gave them £400 worth of toys and sweets. We also took some essentials for the mothers, wash powder, nappies, baby wipes etc. Then for the priest who runs the shelter and helps school the children we purchased 2 bags full of pencils, crayons, paper, books, glue and paints etc for their craft sessions.