Candles for Ukraine

A recent newspaper article prompted members of St Mary’s Church, Pembroke, to get involved in an aid project with a difference. One of them, Ian Jones, explains

The article described how three Anglican dioceses in the UK were collecting and sending old and used candles to the Swindon Humanitarian Aid Project (SHAP) where they are melted down and turned into Trench Candles.

Following an announcement in a recent service, church members at St Mary’s and others brought in a large number of new and old candles which were put in two large potato sacks to take to SHAP together with five used paschal candles from St. Mary’s and a number of other used candles which are unlikely to be used again.

We dropped the candles we had collected from St Mary’s into the SHAP warehouse where they melt down the candles to create trench candles which provide a heat source for cold Ukrainians (in winter temperatures dip to an alarming minus 30C)

So far, about 30 tonnes of candles have been sent to Ukraine. Their infrastructure is under immense pressure with huge areas of the country regularly being without electricity. SHAP’s publicity material asks people to imagine trying to survive in freezing temperatures - perhaps with young children or older family members - and while hearing missiles obliterating nearby properties. This is the reality in much of Eastern Ukraine.

At the SHAP warehouse, old candles are being melted down and made into new lights and wax tin heat sources by a wonderful team of volunteers, many of whom are refugees from Ukraine and who now live in Swindon. They are then dispatched to charities in Ukraine along with other vital supplies.

SHAP has also been given old buses, one of which has been converted into a medical facility which is operating in Eastern Ukraine. Another bus has been turned into The Children’s Story Bus that travels around West Ukraine providing a fun and colourful experience for the children affected by war.

St Mary’s Church, Pembroke’s contribution will make a difference. We will keep in touch with the project and St Mary’s is hoping to take another load of humanitarian aid from South Pembrokeshire within the next three months.

Further information about SHAP can be found on their website at shapuk.org