Two kind-hearted 'Wakefield Santas' to deliver gifts and toys to kids in war-torn Ukraine in time for Christmas
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Paul Glover and Mick New will be delivering presents to children in hospitals, orphanages and temporary housing in Lviv in the west of the conflict-hit Eastern European nation.
They are going as part of a campaign organised by ‘Wakefield for Ukraine’ with their wives, Pauline Glover, Rachel New and friend Oryna Kyryliva.
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Hide AdThe group has worked hard to collect gifts, toys, sweets, bedding and medical items to take to Ukraine in time for Christmas.
They are set to leave for the war-torn country on Thursday, December 15.
Mr Glover, 71, from Flockton, said: “We are giving each child a bag of goodies including selection boxes, soft toys and games.
"We are taking thousands of bags of Christmas gifts and we need your donations to assist with the costs of fuel and the ferries.
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Hide Ad"Between us, we have travelled on five occasions to the registration centre in Przemysl in Poland and Lviv Children’s Hospital, taking food, blankets, and sanitary items.
"Our journey takes us from Hull, to Rotterdam on P&O Ferries through Holland, Germany, Poland and into Ukraine, where we will be met and escorted to the destinations.
"We have arranged to be at the hospital to meet the chief medical officer and children on Sunday, 18th December and will be leaving Ukraine in plenty of time before the curfew begins.”
Mr Glover made two trips to the Ukrainian border in March and April where he drove a 7.5 tonne wagon across Europe to donate food, clothes and medical supplies to the frontlines. He made another trip in August.
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Hide AdSpeaking in July, Mr Glover said he witnessed a bomb going off near the refugee camp on his second visit in spring.
He said: “We got there late at night and parked up. When I got up in the morning, two or three bombs had gone off a few miles away from the site.
“It hits close to home. If they had gone a few miles the other way, it would have landed in Poland. It was very scary but the people at the centre need our help.”
To help the cause consider donating via Mr Glover’s GoFundMe page here.