Inverness, Loch Ness, Culloden and Riverside Rotary Clubs team up to support International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) to aid Ukraine among other projects
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Inverness Rotary clubs have joined forces to collect much needed supplies for Ukraine.
Since July, Inverness, Loch Ness, Culloden and Riverside clubs – as well as Inverness Inner Wheel – have collaborated on a range of projects including working with the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) to aid Ukraine.
Club member Derek McRae said they had been collecting toiletries – including soap, toothpaste, toothbrushes, shampoo and shower gel – plus towels and warm socks to be sent to Lanarkshire as part of a larger shipment that will then make its way to the war-torn country.
“The five clubs have pooled their resources to collect as much as possible in Inverness, ready to be sent to the south of Scotland to be added to the shipment leaving for Poland, then Ukraine in mid-October,” he said. “A later request was sent asking for warm socks to be sent for the Ukraine soldiers on the front line, as trench foot was becoming a problem.
“Response to the appeal has been immense. The shipment will also include several wheelchairs, mobility aids and surplus-to-requirements pregnancy testing kits. In addition, a financial donation has been made to allow the purchase of around 100 thermal socks in Poland.”
ICRC is currently consulting with Polish colleagues about which additional items, on top of medical supplies, are most needed leading up to Christmas.
Mr McRae said: “Since 2019, Inverness Culloden Rotary Club (ICRC) has been involved with York-based charity Physionet in collecting discarded wheelchairs and other mobility aids from NHS Highland for recycling.
“Since 2021 ICRC has also recycled medical items and equipment collected by MedAid, an Aberdeen medical student charity. Many of these items, which would otherwise have been discarded, have been donated by centres such as Raigmore Hospital, Aberdeen GP surgeries, Orkney Hospital and an occupational therapy unit in Stornaway.”
He said the Russian invasion changed everything: “Early in 2022, through Physionet, ICRC was contacted by a UK-based paramedic-run charity called MedicsTogether (MT) whose purpose was to send, in particular, medical aid to Ukraine, via Poland. In Poland the aid is transferred to a registered Polish charity, UAFuture (UAF), who organise the shipments across the border into Ukraine to wherever required – usually to front line field hospitals. During July 2022, ICRC sent three loads of medical items to Ukraine using Medics Together and UAFuture – 80 wheelchairs, 670 army blankets from Cameron Barracks and numerous surgical masks, nitrile gloves, catheters, bandages and insulin syringes from MedAid.”
