Over in West Somerset, the members of Minehead Rotary Club have made sure the children of Ukrainian refugees staying with local host families will have something extra to smile about this festive season.
Members of the club became Santa’s little helpers for the day as they gathered to wrap presents for the local Ukrainian children.
Sarah-Jane Date, who hosts and supports over 30 families living in and around Minehead, commented: “Rotary have been a great help to the displaced families, giving them financial grants, and now with Christmas coming up they have surprized the children with wonderful presents.”
Minehead Rotary President, Angela Murray-Clarke, said: “Our District were able to obtain a large quantity of toys and these were distributed to all the Rotary clubs in Somerset to give to the children.”
Minehead Rotary were far from the only Rotary club in Great Britain & Ireland providing their Ukrainian neighbours with some extra Christmas gifts.
Down towards Devon, The Rotary Club of Crediton Boniface organised for bags of goodies to be given to local Ukrainian families with a little a help from their local Morrisons.
Rotarian Sheila Ralph explained to the Creditor Courier: “Whilst we are looking forward to spending time at Christmas with our families, we are well aware that many of the Ukrainian people who are living in the vicinity of Crediton have men folk left behind in Ukraine.
Lutterworth Rotary President Roger Rose (left) and his wife Jackie.
“Twenty one bags of Christmas food has been given away. The goodies included a chocolate log, mince pies, quality street, a box of biscuits and a selection box for the children all presented in a Christmas shopping bag donated by Morrisons.
“We are very grateful to Morrisons Supermarket and Bristow’s of Devon for their contributions.”
Finally, up in Leicestershire, The Rotary Club of Lutterworth threw a Christmas party for Ukrainians who moved to Lutterworth this past year.
Over 40 Ukrainian guests gathered with members of the Leicestershire club and were treated to a buffet, bingo session and even a performance of ‘Stefania’, Ukraine’s winning Eurovision song from 2022.
Lutterworth Rotary President Roger Rose and his wife Jackie made sure to give the guests a warm welcome and helped present the prizes from a raffle organised by fellow Rotarians Val Cooper and Sally Hollis.
