AN urgent plea has been issued by parents of Ukrainian refugee children who need help with providing school uniforms and other clothes.

The mainly mothers are asking for support as the cost of living escalates and they need their children to be fully equipped for school. Other clothing is also needed as refugee guests are usually on small budgets, stretched further by continuing price increases.

In response, an emergency secondhand clothing event has been organised for families to clothe their children ready for the classroom when the term stars in under two weeks.

Refugee and mother Tatiana Lytvynenko, who works for the Government’s Homes for Ukraine scheme as a project officer with West Devon Borough Council, said: ‘Most people, including me, came to the UK with few clothes because you can’t practically carry much when run away from your home for another country. Also most of us came to the UK thinking that the war would be over in a few months and therefore we did not think about the future.

‘So, we don’t have as many clothes as we would like for the winter and definitely not school uniforms for the new term for growing children.’

Tatiana fled the war hotspot of Dnipro with son Yurii, 15, who attends Tavistock College. The college also has a pre-loved supply of uniforms and other clothing for people who cannot afford new.

She said: ‘Yurii is doing very well at Tavistock College, it is a great school. They help the children integrate well. But many mothers don’t have a job and are on Universal Credit, so they do not have much spare money to spend on things like school uniform which can be expensive. Tavistock College uniforms are not expensive, but anything extra is a lot of money for many people when prices are also going up all the time.’

All refugees, from any countries, are invited to the secondhand clothing Bring and Share event on Wednesday August 31 at the Tavistock Red & Black Club at Tavistock Community Football Club on Crowndale Road.

The second event is on Thursday September 1, from 10am to 6pm.

All items are free to Ukrainian guests and other refugees. Other people are welcome to come along and bag a bargain for a small donation with a minimum of 50p. All proceeds will go towards helping mothers, children and babies still in Ukraine.

Tatiana said: ‘We are taking donations in advance and on the day of clean, good quality clothing and footwear suitable for the autumn and winter season.’

This is second such event which drew a huge response from the community with clothing and children’s scooters.

Children’s clothing is requested for 4 to 16 year olds to include school uniform, footwear and coats. Teenage clothing is needed in medium and small sizes, while adults clothing is needed for women, size. 10-12-14 Clothes for a baby girl aged a few weeks old are also required. Clothes racks are also needed for the two days.

Jem Hoskins at the Red and Black Club can be contacted with how to donate items on 01822 614447.

More details from Tatiana Lytvynenko by email: [email protected] Also, updates on the Facebook pages of Tavistock and Ukrainian Friends and the Red and Black Club https://fb.me/e/2BR7HQvFG.