Ukrainian students at Strathallan School are among those sending bedding to refugee families fleeing the war.
The Perthshire school community has collected 100 beds and 200 pieces of bedding and essential items for Ukrainian nationals who have escaped to Poland.
And Dan Deluca, Dmytro Borysov and Alex Nunan, Strathallan pupils with strong links to Ukraine, expressed their joy as their peers rush to help their homeland.
Dmytro, 18, fled Ukraine two weeks ago with his family before joining Strathallan School.
He said: “Everyone was panicking and no one knew what was coming next.
“My city, on the west of Ukraine, is fine right now and there are no bombs but we have a lot of refugees there.”
The appeal was launched by a school parent Iain Gordon, chairman of EastHORN Clinical Services, whose colleagues in Ukraine were working on a new Covid-19 vaccine when the Russian invasion began two weeks ago.
Now the medically trained staff have committed to staying in the Eastern European country to work in hospitals or join the army.
Iain said: “We have tried to support (our Ukrainian staff) as much as we possibly can but they are adamant they want to stay in Ukraine.
“Most of them are medical doctors and they are working hard in hospitals.”
Many staff members are also in Poland where they are helping families who have been displaced from their homes because of the war.
The refugees urgently needed bunk beds delivered to the town of Grodzisk Mazowiecki, near Warsaw, so that mothers and children had somewhere comfortable to sleep.
The whole school community helped load the equipment onto the lorry, provided by Clockwork Removals, before it leaves for Poland on Monday.
Even four-year-old Ragnar was on hand to help his lorry driver dad Craig Richardson with some heavy lifting.
Less than a week after the fundraiser was launched, hundreds of parents from the school’s community came together to buy brand new beds for the refugees.Pupils from Dundee High School also donated to the cause.
Charlotte Gilmour, school captain and head of the rugby team, said: “We have got lots of connections to Ukraine and we have lots of students coming from that area. It’s been quite close to home to see how they have been affected by this.
“We have all been keeping in the loop with the news and we’re keen to do anything to help because we are so fortunate here to live in a safe environment in Scotland.”
