Castlepollard/Ringtown lorry of supplies arrives in Poland
Sarah Slevin
A Castlepollard man has arrived at the drop-off point in Poland with a truck of supplies for people in Ukraine donated and funded by people here in Westmeath and Longford.
Rory McCauley, and Longford man, Enda Manning, departed early Tuesday morning with a lorry full of supplies to help people in Ukraine dealing with the Russian invasion.
The supplies on board were donated by locals via the Ringtown GAA Ukraine collection last weekend, organised by Whitehall Community group, which included donations such as bandages, medical gowns, and non-perishable goods.
Rory and Enda teamed up through their transport company EU Tranz, while local haulier Michael Needham Haulage from Knockdrin supplied a trailer.
Damien Moran, who helped organise the trip and fundraiser, confirmed that at 11am on Friday, Rory and Enda had arrived at their destination, a university in Gdańsk, where a trust had been set up for families and children.
“Tracey and Rory McCauley first made the gesture to organise it and they approached me to help. I contacted the hurling club to host the drop-off,” Damien said.
The trip is estimated to cost €8,000-10,000 and a GoFundMe page has been set up to help cover those costs.
“Between boats, diesel, and the tolls, that’s roughly the cost. It’s great on the news they’re saying that Irish ferries are giving trips for free, but that’s not everyone. Rory hasn’t been subsidised at all,” Damien said.
“They’ll know exactly how much it has cost once they’re back, but the price of diesel is so high, and the tolls would be five or six hundred euro alone,” Damien said.
Damien said that they added donations from the Ringtown GAA collection to those gathered by Enda’s local club, Clonguish GAA in Newtownforbes, along with Clonkill GAA, and a team sorted it out at Moran Signs warehouse.
“The amount of stuff we got at the collection was great, we got more than we thought, so some of that is going on another lorry with someone from Cavan,” Damien said.
The GoFundMe page is live now and has raised more than €2,500 so far, and Damien said they will also host a raffle in the pub in Ringtown on St Patrick’s night.
“Once Rory’s costs are covered, we’re going to make a donation to the Red Cross with the balance,” Damien said.
For those who want to donate, they can do so on gofundme.com/f/transport-of-aid-to-Ukraine, visit Ringtown GAA Facebook or search Whitehall Community Group.