A Nantwich estate agent has returned from his fourth trip to Ukraine where he delivered vital aid for war-torn families.
Gary Fear, who works for Butters John Bee in Nantwich, said it was the “most rewarding and most unnerving” of is four trips so far.
Gary and his team had help from the Ukraine Army who provided body armour so they could take provisions as close to the front line as possible.
He said: “We had an additional van and filled it with £3,800 of food plus a generator that was going to be invaluable for a church that was a meeting point for people to eat, get warm and, with our help, now have light and the ability to charge mobile phones.
“We then travelled seven hours through Odessa to Mykolaiv for the night and next day, unloaded food and packed it into separate bags.
“We drove to Oleksandrivka where every person here had either lost their home or had it damaged and when we arrived, the army chaplain blessed the crowd and we gave food to everyone.”
Next stop for Gary and his team was Stanislav to give out more food.
And that is where they heard artillery fire for the first time.
“From there, we headed to Kherson, a city recently liberated by the Ukrainians but still under daily shelling,” added Gary.
“The devastation there was as bad as anything we had seen before.
“We gave out the last of the food and returned to Mykolaiv, hearing later that Kherson was again shelled and people injured.
“Next day, we returned to Kyiv with our army friends who showed us a base on the outskirts of Kyiv.”
Gary and his group also witnessed a mobile surface to air missile launcher, before they went shopping and bagged up more vital supplies for delivery to the army church in Kyiv where they could then take it to the front line in Bakhmut.
On their last day they heard air raid sirens as they set off for Chernihiv.
“We met with a lady named Valeria and were given coffee and food before meeting the crowd outside that had been expecting us,” he added.
“We handed out all of our food and one man insisted that he gave us presents of Ukrainian hats, scarves and flip flops and happily posed for a picture.
“As we left Chernihiv to head to Kyiv and then return to the Polish border, we learned that most of Ukraine was expecting missile or drone attacks.
“Many had already been launched so a bit of a tense journey from Kyiv to Lviv where we stayed for our final night!”
The next morning they crossed into Poland and now they are already began planning our fifth trip.
Gary added: “We know we have done some great stuff on this trip and will continue to do so, with our next trip booked for the end of April.
“We have now spent £33,000 and aim to raise at least another £7,000 for the next visit.”
Anyone who can donate can drop any cash or cheques to 12 Parsons Drive, Gnosall ST20 0QS or visit http://www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/gfukraine
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