David Barnes and George Olesen are fundraising for supplies that they will deliver to the Ridni Centre for Social Support for Children and Families in Lviv, Ukraine.

The Ridni Centre was created in partnership between Ridni Charitable Foundation and Lviv City Council in order to provide urgent placement of children and family support services. They provide safe accommodation for up to 26 children who are deprived of parental care, are orphans, or living in difficult life circumstances. In one year of operation, 14 children have safely returned to their families and 45 families are still receiving psychological support. They also provide free classes in Maths, English and Art for children through the Ridni Charitable Foundation and their wide charitable activities.

The war has caused a huge displacement of people within Ukraine, many of whom have relocated to the relative safety of Lviv. This has put significant added stress on systems designed to support vulnerable people and the Ridni Centre is no exception.

David and George are both directors of The Ambassador Platform, an Education Technology business, which has deep roots in Lviv having set up an office there in 2018. The team, many of whom are still based in Lviv, have chosen the Ridni Centre as an initiative they would like our fundraising efforts to support because of the extremely important work they do and the impact this fundraising effort will have upon the children living there.

David and George will be leaving in a van from London on Boxing Day morning and will return from the trip on New Year's Eve evening, hoping to complete the journey in 6 days.

Money raised through this initiative will go towards purchasing the items that the Ridni Centre and the families they support have specifically requested, including: warm clothes, blankets, electricity generators, battery packs and used electronic equipment and books.

We will also deliver Christmas presents to all of the 26 children currently staying at the Centre which will be hand wrapped by The Ambassador Platform team based in London.

Any money raised beyond that required for direct delivery to the Ridni Centre will be donated to the Ridni Charitable Foundation which will produce a report for us on where this money is spent which we will then be able to share back with all of our amazing donors.

100% of the funds raised on this page will go towards items for and direct cash donations to the Ridni Center and Charitable Foundation. The cost of the trip will be covered elsewhere.

Thank you very much for any contribution you are able to make. We can guarantee you that your donation will have a direct and very significant impact on the lives of these children and we will be able to share stories and photos following the trip. Finally, if you have access to used phones, laptops, battery packs or other computer equipment that you are happy to donate, please contact Nat at natalie@theambassadorplatform.com to arrange delivery/collection.

Many thanks and to see the latest from the Ridni Centre you can check out their facebook page and to see what it looks like, here is a video tour.