Mail Force sends crucial support for the disabled in Ukraine thanks to the work of tireless volunteers

• Yorkshire charity PhysioNet funded two 55ft containers packed with equipment 

In a vast barn on a farm near York, a small team of volunteers can be found beavering tirelessly away.

They are sorting out second-hand wheelchairs, crutches, walking frames, hospital beds, mattresses, mobility scooters, commodes, stretchers and prosthetic limbs.

This equipment – donated by the public, firms and charities – must be checked, sorted, repaired and packed for shipping to countries in need.

‘My friends think I’m barmy coming here every week to a freezing barn, but I don’t like waste’ said former nurse Chris True, 78.

She is one of many volunteers, all retirees, who give their free time to PhysioNet, a small Yorkshire charity set up to supply people in developing countries with disability aids that are considered surplus or redundant here.

Pictured: volunteers at PhysioNet load a lorry full of reclaimed NHS equipment to be sent to Ukraine

In recognition of its crucial work, PhysioNet – a recipient of the Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service in 2017 – has received £9,000 from Mail Force, the charity founded by the Daily Mail and General Trust during the Covid pandemic and to which our generous readers have donated a staggering £37million in three years.

Mail Force is now focusing on its Ukraine Appeal to provide food, shelter and clothing for those affected by the war.

The grant to PhysioNet has funded two 55ft containers packed with equipment for Ukraine. The number of people with disabilities has increased dramatically, both among the soldiers and civilians caught up in the bombing and shelling, with many amputees.

‘With everything that’s going on in the world, Ukraine has fallen off the news agenda. But there are no shortages of requests from there,’ said PhysioNet founder Peter Thompson. One truck was sent in October and another this month, the seventh to Ukraine this year.

PhysioNet was launched in 2008 by Peter, 89 a retired agricultural consultant.

Today, there are 60 volunteers working across its hubs in Scotland, East Anglia, the South East and the West Country, who have provided vital equipment to 32 developing countries in Europe, Asia, Africa and the Pacific.

‘Fortunately, we can reuse about 95 per cent of the stuff we get in,’ Peter tells me.

PhysioNet has funded two 55ft containers full of equipment for Ukraine

The charity has a lot to be proud of, shipping out 144 containers in the 15 years of operation – and 19 truckloads this year.

‘It’s the most we’ve ever sent,’ Peter told me proudly. ‘The countries we deliver to usually help pay towards some of the cost. But we don’t ask Ukraine for any money because they’re at war. We’re delighted and grateful that Mail Force stepped in to help.’

See www.mailforcecharity.co.uk to learn about Mail Force.

To learn more about PhysioNet, donate or volunteer, email [email protected].

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