18-07-2025
Cumbrian aid worker prepares for his fourth trip to Ukraine to help war victims
An aid worker from Tebay is preparing to make his fourth trip to Ukraine with a lorry full of aid.
Steve Hodgson bought a house in Ukraine to be with his partner before it was bombed, and has since been volunteering to help people affected by the war.
Steve says the amount of "destruction and damage" he witnessed when the war first broke out more than three years ago has motivated him to do what he can.
He said: "How do you come back to normal life, having seen what you've seen?
"Life goes on as normal. A building gets destroyed, a hospital and a school get hit, and within 24 hours, it gets cleaned up. There's a big psychological thing there, 'we're not going to get defeated, we're going to keep going.'
"In Odessa, I can tell you what type of drone is overhead. It becomes a normal life, it's hard.
"The air raids usually go on during the night, so you don't get to sleep. Then in the morning, you've got to carry on, we have to keep volunteering, and shops need to open."
Steve says his work with Cumbria Aid Ukraine and his Ukraine-based foundation called Carna is "making a real difference".
He added: "I've got a team that comes with me, and we've established it all together, and between us, we're now working in the Odessa region but also all around Ukraine, supporting different military units.
"Ukraine will win this war in the end, but at what cost? All I see while driving across Europe is an endless stream of cars full of aid, ambulances, being donated from Norway, Sweden, Germany, Spain and France. There's so much more support than people realise."
Steve has made 16 trips, transporting aid from all over Europe. This week, he is making his fourth trip from the UK with support from Cumbria Aid Ukraine. The group gather essential items for some time until Steve arrives to transport the aid into Ukraine.
The volunteer group, based at The Pot Place Garden Centre near Penrith, has also been raising funds to purchase and equip emergency vehicles to support medical services in Ukraine. They've sent over 20 vehicles so far, including ambulances and 4x4 cars.
Paul Thomas, from Cumbria Aid Ukraine, said: "The cars are a prized possession because every time a missile lands, a car is destroyed in Ukraine. We see the pictures of buildings destroyed, and we don't think that 300 yards away, a car will be useless from then on, because it will be totally destroyed by shrapnel.
"The conditions are so poor that these are the only vehicles that will last any length of time."
Paul says the essential items requested can change throughout the year. He added: "We have a list of things we ask for at any particular time, at the moment, that's household goods, baby products, generators, power packs, it changes seasonally, for example, during winter, it could be clothing and bedding."
Speaking about whether the amount of donations has changed since the beginning of the war, he said: "We have sudden donations of large amounts of money because we are always looking to buy vehicles, which just come in from a group or people who have run a concert or planned an event - they bring us that money because they know we exist now. That's fantastic."
