A fortnight ago, Suzanne, a fellow humanitarian volunteer living in the Netherlands, contacted us with a simple question: "I have access to a batch of medical beds, do you know any beneficiaries in Ukraine, and do you have a way of transporting them from Lille, in France?"

At The Small Projects Team, this kind of question always calls for the same answer: first of all a big YES, and a huge THANK YOU... and then we put everything on the table and get organised! There's no question of letting this wonderful gift slip through our fingers, despite the logistical challenge. 

So I said to Suzanne: "Yes - give me 24 hours.

Less than two weeks later, two lorries carrying 104 medical beds are on their way to Ukraine and will be crossing the border by tomorrow.

We're a small team, but we're part of a formidable international network, capable of finding the right resources, quickly.

With just two phone calls, one to Sylvain Grenot of the French NGO Agir Ensemble Pour l'Ukraine (https://aepu.eu/), which organised and paid for transport from Lviv to Lille, and to our friends at the Volunteering and Help Centre in Lviv (https://vdc.in.ua) to identify beneficiaries, and that was it.

Very soon, these beds will be installed in hospitals, centres for the elderly and rehabilitation centres across Ukraine, making a real difference where they are most urgently needed.

We are extremely proud of this ecosystem and its effectiveness.

Agility, speed, impact - all thanks to volunteers. 💙💛

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