The devastating plight of refugees fleeing from war-torn Ukraine has inspired Swanton services to launch a nation-wide sponsored walk. The fundraiser will see colleagues and people supported across all services collectively walk 752km to raise money, showcasing the UK’s support to Ukraine.
The target has been chosen as it is the distance between Ukraine’s capital Kyiv and the Polish border, where many refugees have travelled. Swanton has pledged to donate £1 for every kilometre walked by their fundraising teams. They’ll also match the individual sponsorships up to a total of £2,000 for both these donations and the kilometres walked combined.
Swanton’s Chief Executive Officer, Andrew Dalton, said the heart-breaking situation in Ukraine has profoundly affected Swanton colleagues, their families and the people we support. He said:
“We are all shocked and saddened by the situation in Ukraine and its impact on people’s lives. As an organisation, we want to provide support in the best way possible, and to also help the people we support to understand and process what’s happening. We hope to raise plenty of money to donate to refugees who desperately need our help right now.”
Swanton services will also be running an activity session for the people we support to facilitate conversations about the war. As Ukraine has a long cultural history of painting eggs for celebrations, colleagues will set up sessions for the people we support to create egg painting designs. Everyone will have a choice of whether to do a traditional Ukrainian egg design or to paint things that are meaningful to them on their eggs. Andrew describes the sessions:
“The sessions will be fun and creative, and they’ll give colleagues the opportunity to discuss the events in the news with the people we support. We hope that those conversations will encourage everybody to voice their concerns, show the UK support to Ukraine or ask the questions they have about the conflict. It’s a worrying time and we hope to help the people we support to understand what’s happening and talk about their feelings.”
If you’d like to donate to Swanton’s sponsored walk for Ukraine, please head to our Just Giving page now.
