It all began for Rev. Bernard Cocker in Ukraine in 1991 – and now International Aid Trust is pouring its heart into helping the war-ravaged country. Haunted by the poverty and suffering he saw all those years ago on that trip to Ukraine, Bernard decided to make a difference and set up his aid organisation. Today the charity helps needy people in the UK and abroad – but nowhere more so at present than Ukraine.
The largely volunteer team has packed and has sent 37 aid containers – 425 tons of essential supplies since the invasion. At one point, the charity was not far behind France in the amount of aid it was sending! “It has been a wonderful effort from our volunteers and staff,” says Bernard. “We’ve had 100 per cent effort from everyone and last week I was speaking to Pasha, our director in Ukraine, and I said we should do more. “He replied that was rubbish – with what we’ve sent, he said, we’ve helped hundreds of thousands of people and they will never forget it.” None of the charity’s Ukrainian staff fled – all stayed to help and many operate in frontline areas at significant personal risk. IAT has a warehouse outside Kyiv as its distribution hub. Supplies are distributed through reliable and trusted contacts. As well as its own network, International Aid has links with Pentecostal and Baptist denominations comprising more than 2,000 churches. Bernard said goods donations and volunteers were still very much needed – see how you can help on the opposite page. Meanwhile, International Aid sends aid to many other countries – 50 nations including Africa, Asia and Eastern Europe, A big project about to start is a high school in Sierra Leone, made possible by a generous gift from sposnors GBS Services, a logistics firm based in Hesketh Bank. The charity has planted churches, set up rescue centres for orphans, schools, alcohol and drug projects, prisoner rehabilitation schemes, water projects and much more.
