A BASINGSTOKE woman of Polish origin returned to her hometown in Poland to work with a support network for Ukrainians after raising more than £6,000 to help those in need.

Karolina Pus, who lives in Chineham, flew back to her hometown Pila on April 1 alongside her wife Maria Robinson-Pus and Maria’s sister Jessica, where thousands of Ukrainian refugees are taking shelter.

A fundraiser, created by Karolina last month, has already collected £6,105 and counting, and she cannot thank the contributors enough.

SEE MORE: Basingstoke woman who raised more than £1,000 to fly to Poland to support Ukrainians

Maria said: “At the time of the trip we had raised about £5,000 and Karolina had been reaching out to various polish volunteers and some Ukraine families.

“We basically built up who we were going to see before we went. We also had a meeting with one school on the first day and we met families there who were taking language lessons and we sort to pay for two or three months worth of lessons.”

Maria said it has been “fantastic” that everyone has been able to donate.

She added: “From the onset, Karolina wanted to get personally involved and it has constantly been the message that she has wanted to physically go and see those families and ask them the questions to find out what it is they need or want.

“I think we found that it was not as easy or straightforward as we thought it might be because these families are like everyone else. If someone comes to you asking for help you are not going to necessarily ask for anything from strangers, I think this is where we wanted to build up that trust and relationships.”

During the trip they figured out the needs of individual families to give them back their “dignity and respect of making their own decisions”.

Maria: “We gave them the money for what they needed and tried to make it as subtle and respectful as possible.”

She said the trip was emotional and on the first day, some of the families showed them videos of where they used to live and what it looks like now.

Karolina and Maria will be going back for three days at the end of the month to utilise the remaining £1,200 and any additional donations they have been lucky to continue to receive.

For more information and to donate, visit: justgiving.com/crowdfunding/helpforukrainiansinpoland.

Message from the editor

Thank you for reading this story. We really appreciate your support.

Please help us to continue bringing you all the trusted news from your area by sharing this story or by following our Facebook page.