TOYS collected by a Rogerstone woman for Ukranian children who are refugees in Poland were handed out earlier this week to mark Poland's National Children's Day.

Alison Stallard originally set up a Go Fund Me page to help raise funds to help volunteer teams in Poland provide assistance to people fleeing the war in Ukraine. It has so far raised more than £5,000.

One of the things her fundraising efforts helped was improvements to temporary accommodation in the Polish town of Grabie, which is home to about 250 Ukrainian refugees, mainly women and children.

She said the money is being used to help provide each family with their own private space.

Another group she has helped were in a town called Bochnia in south east Poland who were making daily food and supply trips into Ukraine to reach people who were stuck with little or sometimes no access to basics like food and water. Many were elderly or disabled people who couldn't move either because it's too dangerous or because supply chains have been destroyed.

South Wales Argus: Alison and Lawrence with the Toy Van and the local priest who has done so much work to welcome the Ukrainian people.

Alison and Lawrence Stallard with the Toy Van and the local priest who has done so much work to welcome the Ukrainian people.

Ms Stallard, whose father was Polish and who still has family in the country, travelled to Poland earlier this year to help and asked what else she could be doing.

She said: "When I went the first time, at end of March, I saw first hand the great work that both volunteer teams were doing.

"They and the people they are helping were so appreciative of the funds that were being raised and I asked them what else we could do. They told me that they could really do with toys for the 100-plus Ukrainian children living in the complex in Grabie, as they had fled Ukraine with little notice and had to leave virtually everything behind."

Ms Stallard set about coordinating a toy donation and was delighted with the support from communities in and around Rogerstone, Llanbradach, where she was born, and through her workplace, Ortho Clinical Diagnostics in Pencoed.

She said: "My husband, Lawrence, and I were able to hire a van and drive what became known as the 'Toy Van' from Newport to south east Poland to deliver all the toys. The team in Grabie were overjoyed and are planning to share out all of the toys with the children on June 1, which is National Children's Day in Poland.

"It is lovely to know that we are making a small difference to these children, with everything they have gone through and continue to go through.

South Wales Argus: The Thank You certificate presented to us by the students of the village school.

A Thank You certificate presented by the students of the village school

"While we were there, we were shown around the complex and it was great to see the building improvements that have been made to the living spaces and temporary school in the short space of time since we last visited."

"While we were there also joined in with a traditional Polish dancing lesson that was taking place for Ukrainian adults and children. We were also invited to visit a school in one of the local villages, Krzeczow, where the Polish students and teachers have been leading and coordinating fund raising and we were completely overwhelmed to receive a thank you certificate for the money and toys we had donated.

"They asked us to thank everyone back home for everything they have done. It was such a lovely gesture.

"I want people here to know that their efforts in donating money and toys are recognised and are making a direct difference to those who need it. My husband and I want to continue to support the causes above and have some ideas for how we could do that which we will work on over the coming months."

Ms Stallard's Go Fund Me page is still open and can be found at tinyurl.com/2p8bn43t .