When Russia invaded Ukraine, Lewisham’s Polish Community Centre immediately began accepting donations from local people who wanted to help. One year on, they have sent more aid than they ever thought possible. Isabel Jackson hears the story of how one community rallied to help another

When the war in Ukraine began, the Lewisham Polish Centre became the central hub of donations from across south-east London. People came together to help in a way Agnieszka Lokaj, chair of the centre, had never imagined. “Everyone brought something to the table, something I would not be able to do by myself,” she says.

Initially, the Polish Centre was just planning to collect donations from within the Polish community and send out a couple of transports. But word started to spread across social media. Agnieszka was in Poland at the time, frantically communicating with volunteers as she travelled back to the UK.

“I was getting messages saying, ‘it is packed, we have never seen so many people in the Polish Centre’. I was still texting when I was boarding, getting messages saying, ‘can I come in, can I bring this, what do you need?’”

When she arrived at the Polish Centre on the fifth day of the war, it was full of people. The first big transport was going out that day, full of everything from medical supplies to baby food. “It was just beyond everything we had expected,” Agnieszka says. The effort to help those in need defied the divisions created by war. “There were Russian people, there were Ukrainians, there was just a variety.”

Soon they started an online fundraiser to raise money for transport. Agnieszka originally underestimated the level of interest in the community and suggested the target amount for the fundraiser should be £1000. “They laughed at me,” she says. “My volunteers were like, ‘no, don’t joke’.” They ended up raising over £100,000.

The operation to help Ukraine also became a lifeline for Lewisham, as the UK emerged from the pandemic. “Being around these volunteers, it was so emotional,” Agnieszka says. “People were coming to me saying, ‘I was so depressed for the last few months and being around people and having this energy just brought me back to life’.”

After a while, the initial operation began to phase down. Now, a year on from the start of the war, the Polish Centre is again taking donations. “People do forget,” Agnieszka says. “Yes, we have our Christmas, we have our New Years, let’s celebrate. But people are still dying there, and they’re still not free.”

The money donated to the Lewisham Polish Centre is going to Grupa Transgraniczna, a Polish charity that organises goods to be carried across the border from Poland into Ukraine. Joanna Mieszczynska, who organises the convoys, says that they drive as close as 6km to the frontline. “We hear or see the reflections of working artillery at night, we always hear rocket alarms,” she says. “Recently in Kharkiv, when we were packing food, three rockets fell from the sky.”

“When you give food or medicine to mothers of tiny children, or to a 91-year-old man, you know that it is worth continuing to help Ukraine,” Joanna says. Monetary donations are more helpful than physical items. They need money for buses and fuel, and to buy food in Poland where it is cheaper and can be bought fresh. “I decide what I buy. Each trip means different needs,” says Joanna.

The Polish Centre’s donations also go to Digital Schools, based in Olsztyn, Poland. The money goes towards support for Ukrainian students to integrate into the Polish community, for example through trips and workshops. “I would like them to feel safe here, to feel that we will support them as long as they need it,” says Ewa Meszczynska, the coordinator of Digital Schools.

Ewa says that as the war has gone on, people have become used to it. “The war is ongoing, and actually the needs are even bigger because it’s been going on for a year, and they still need help.”

Agnieszka doesn’t know what to expect in response to the Polish Centre’s new fundraiser. “People are tired here. Not only by the war, it’s everything that’s happening – inflation, the cost of living. So I don’t blame people that they’re struggling to donate. Sometimes £5 is heat or not.

“But if people can spare a few pounds, that makes a big difference for someone there. I always remind them that this is not only the Polish community, it is the community in the UK that has the spirit and will to remotely help somebody they don’t know.”

You can donate to the Lewisham Polish Centre’s Ukraine appeal here.