Our Outpatients team at Queen’s Hospital held a bake sale on Thursday 7 April to raise funds for those affected by the Russian invasion of Ukraine, raising over £600.
Among the organisers was Inga Zamolynska, outpatient patient experience coordinator, who grew up in the Ukraine and still has family there. Since she first shared her story she has been delighted to get her mum, Hanna, 73, safely to the UK.
Inga said: “She arrived last week and I am so relieved she is here and safe. When I brought her home from the airport my little boy, who’s four, was waiting in the window for her. It was a very emotional reunion and she was so pleased to be with her grandchildren again.
“She spent three weeks in Poland sorting her visa and has given up her home in Ukraine to help those who are staying there. I still have cousins in Ukraine, they have people from Mariupol staying with them who are just in shock. Everyone is doing their bit to help each other and this bake sale was to help raise funds to get much-needed supplies to them. I am so grateful to everyone who supported us, and how so many people got involved.”
The cakes were made by members of our Outpatients team, though Inga admits as baking isn’t her forte, she had a friend bake a delicious cake in Ukrainian colours on her behalf.
Inga, who also has a daughter, 12, is working with a local company which imports goods from Ukraine to purchase supplies, which they can then transport to where they are most needed. The company, USSR Ltd, is based in the Barking Industrial Estate.
She added: “They are able to get supplies to Ukraine in their lorries. I visited before and saw a lorry loaded up with goods, including food, water, medical supplies, clothes and blankets, that people who have had to leave their homes are desperately in need of.”
If anyone would like to help support those affected in Ukraine, you can donate online to the Disasters Emergency Committee’s Ukraine Humanitarian Appeal.
Pictured above is Inga (far right) with (l-r): Ellie Holland and Karen Rayment-Davis, clinic prep clerks, and Ruth Ashlin, outpatients sister.
