Banbury's help for Ukraine charity gets a new website thanks to specialist company

The home page of the new UK Help for Ukraine website created by DCS Group of Banbury

UK Help for Ukraine is operating out of the former Debenhams store in the Castle Quay where it receives, stores and sorts hundreds of items donated by well-wishers.

The organisation has received huge amounts of humanitarian aid and has a good following on Facebook but it did not have an interactive website – until DCS Group of Noral Way, Banbury stepped in.

Charles Shortt of DCS Group said: “Initially, the organisers were doing a lot of local fundraising and contacted a lot of local businesses. At that point, we made quite a large donation of baby products, personal hygiene products and other necessities.

Sam Donaghy hands over a load of humanitarian aid after a long journey from Banbury

"Interestingly, my mother's family initially came from the border of Ukraine and Poland so for me, it became a personal cause. We stayed in touch after the first donation.

“I met them a few weeks later and walked around the former Debenhams store and saw what they were doing. I brought my father down to see it all and as a business, we thought we would like to help them out. Essentially we have helped by giving them a rebrand and building them a web page.”

Mr Shortt said he hoped the interactive site would help by giving people a central point for donations of money, access to updated information and to turn around a slight drop-off in the initial rush of donations by people in the Banbury area.

“There was a huge outpouring of support and people donating things at the start but I think things have slowed a bit and we hope as long as the conflict continues, featuring the charity in this way will make it much more engaging.”

Kielczow, Poland - Polish volunteers receive a consignment from Banbury

Mr Shortt said while designing the rebrand he studied a lot of similar charities across Europe to see what was needed.

"Everyone's saying ‘no more clothes’. I think everyone donated clothes to start with and they didn't really need them. What they need now is anything from medicine and food to hygiene products. There are a lot of refugees in Poland living everyday lives and needing everyday products.”

Mr Shortt’s senior graphic designer, Sarah Bowes, helped by building the website while he has given her the brief, the content and guidance. https://www.ukhelpforukraine.com/