After watching the news and seeing the heartache and devastation in Ukraine, 13-year-old Darcy Troup from Spennymoor, who has additional needs, came up with the idea of donating some of her clothes to help people in the war-torn country.
She then suggested her mother, who is Spennymoor Town Councillor Emma Troup, put out a plea on her social media for community donations.
Emma is co-founder of One Step at a Time, a community support service for individuals with mental health challenges who are disengaged, isolated or not in education, where Darcy also volunteers.
Generosity
“The kindness and generosity that followed the appeal has been completely overwhelming,” said Emma.
“The community of Spennymoor and surrounding towns and villages have been unbelievable.
“The drop off point for donations was my place of work, One Step at a Time, at The Hub in Jubilee Park.
“We were so overwhelmed with donations, we had to cancel all of our group sessions for a week as we couldn’t get through the door!
“My business partner’s daughter, Lindsey Peacock, works for a self-storage company and she organised a van to come and collect and store the donations.”
Convoy
The company owner, Kevin Doyle, has organised a convoy to make the journey to Poland to deliver the donations to refugees, leaving on Monday 21 March.
“We would like to thank Mel Groves and Andrew Peacock for help in transporting the donations and the community for joining us to help provide for others in such a trying time,” said Emma.
“I would also like to thank Tracy Bonarius, my business partner, and Ian Stobbart, who is on a Kickstart with us, for all of their hard work in helping make this happen.
“It’s absolutely heart-breaking and devasting to watch the news, but with the community pulling together we have all played a part in helping, and I am so exceptionally proud of my daughter, Darcy.
“Her kindness and caring nature has really shone through by being the originator of this idea.”
Spennymoor's local community newspaper.
