The first air raid siren I heard came at night. It was horrendous.
Children were sleeping in makeshift dormitories in school gyms and were forced underground every time they went off.
I spent three weeks in Lviv, in Ukraine, in June 2022. I’d started a shoebox aid campaign on my dining room table when the war broke out and was following the boxes’ journey, delivering them to those who needed them most.
The lorry refused to go over the border because it was so dangerous, but we managed to get aid moved in other trucks and vans – I knew I had to stop at nothing to Ukrainians the help they needed.
It came naturally to me. My son Sam was a marine and deployed to Afghanistan in 2008.
I was beside myself and didn’t know what to do. So, I filled spare shoe boxes up with sweets, games, toiletries, gloves, underwear and letters to send to the troops..
They arrived the day after a horrific incident in which three of the unit were killed. Sam said they couldn’t have come at a better time and were a real boost.
It was all self-funded using shoeboxes that came from local shoe shops. I was a freelance chef at the time and filled the boxes when I wasn’t working.
When I saw the Grenfell Tower fire in 2017, I couldn’t get my head around it.
So, I started filling more shoeboxes. And, after posting about what I was doing on social media, people arrived at my house in Lincolnshire with bags of donations.
We packed 200 boxes with essentials and labelled them by sex and age.
I borrowed a van to deliver them, and the day I went down there changed my life. It was like a warzone – but I saw the real power of community.
Security wouldn’t let me through to the site to deliver the boxes, but promised they’d get to the people who needed them.
When it came to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, in February 2022, I immediately I knew I had to send boxes there, too. So, I collected more toiletries, nappies, clothing, teddies for orphans and medical supplies after appealing online.
Donations came from all over the country and took over my house. I drove around the country collecting items like clothing and medical supplies while companies sent pallets of tinned food and my village all chipped in.
It was this massive outpouring from the community which made me want to visit Ukraine to see what was happening myself.
I realised that what’s happening there could happen here to us.
Our first lorry went in March 2022 and contained around 1,800 shoe boxes plus pallets of medical aid from hospitals in London.
We are now known by the name Boxes of Hope and have sent 25 18-tonne lorry loads of aid to Ukraine.
At home, we’re now also the first point of call for refugees arriving in Lincolnshire. We help them find the services they need while also aiding locals by referring them to the right agencies like housing services, food banks and mental health support.
We’ve got a community hub in Holbeach, which hosts coffee mornings and craft sessions. It’s somewhere people can come for support, to talk and know they’re not alone. Sometimes all they need is someone to listen to, while in other cases they need practical help with an issue.
Anyone can take shelter in our safe space – there’s always a warm drink and listening ear.
We have three paid staff members, and 15 regular volunteers, and we’ve just received funding to keep us going for another five years.
As full-time managing director, it’s taken over my life. It’s constant – seven days a week, I’m always dealing with something. It’s tiring but also very humbling. I feel very proud how this has grown – it’s a real miracle.
There’s no typical day. Phone calls and messages start from around 7am, but we don’t know what we’re dealing with until people come through the door.
There are those who’ve fled domestic abuse, asylum seekers, homeless veterans, older people facing issues like dementia or who need some help obtaining care or families who’ve paid their bills but can’t afford food due to the cost-of-living crisis.
We have people coming from miles away because there’s nothing like this near to where they live.
This has gone beyond Ukraine now and is making a real difference. We’re saving people’s lives and they’re incredibly grateful for our help. It’s been so humbling that I’ve had to keep going – so many people need help.
I would love to see this replicated in other areas. There’s a real need for it – but it all hinges on securing funding.
Thankfully we’ve secured some Lottery funding, but financial support is hard to come by. We’ve launched a cost of a coffee campaign to encourage people to donate a few pounds each month, the shop helps bring in money as does our van as we also do house clearances, but it’s tough.
Ideally, we’d like to buy our building so it stays within the community – that will help us with costs as we won’t be paying rent.
People tell me I should go into politics, but I’d rather do this. It’s real. It’s genuine.
Make kindness your magic is our motto. People come to us and realise they’re not on their own. If we can’t do that for humans, if we can’t show our communities that people care, then what’s the point of being here?
*As told to Kate Chapman
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