A heart-broken Bracknell resident has opened a building up in central Poland to house a total of 25 Ukrainian refugees that have fled to Poland.
As the news of the impending war in Ukraine started to break out, Tony McNamara, who owns a building in Ozorkow prepared himself to house refugees that were expected to flee to Poland.
After initially readying himself for eight refugees, the need for more refuge became glaringly obvious as more and more Ukrainian women and children fled their homes.
He explains: “My heart couldn’t turn away those small children that were arriving at the border so after 2 Ukrainian trips and people arriving at my door.
“I’m also supporting financially and operationally a second building in the centre of our town which will house up to an additional 40 refugees as the crisis grows.
Beds, mattresses, furniture and additional medication and supplies have been purchased for the shelters, however for the Bracknell man, he never considered how difficult it would be to keep the required food fresh for so many people.
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With a chest freezer and two family freezers, he said that ‘it doesn’t allow for even half the food to be stored.’
Mr McNamara said: “Our makeshift solution is to keep the fresh food close to the inside of a garage door so it’s frost free but cold. As the weather turns during spring, this solution will unfortunately no longer work.”
With that, and the suggestion of friends to lift some of the burden from his shoulders, he has begun a Crowdfunder to allow them to purchase and fit an industrial style refrigerator to keep the remaining food fresh for all of the refugees that he is housing.
Housing three diabetic refugees also means that the refuge is in need of enough cold storage to hold the insulin medication that is in short supply.
“I myself will continue to support the refugees in every other way as that’s the commitment I made, however if I could please ask you to just donate for this one item, our lives would be much improved and healthier,” the Bracknell man comments passionately.
If you wish to donate to the Go Fund Me set up by Tony McNamara click here.
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