Girl, 12, delivers £1,000 worth of sports equipment to Ukrainian refugees in Poland

A 12-year-old girl delivered £1,000 worth of sports equipment to Ukrainian refugees in Poland with her dad - after watching children play football with rolled up coats.Show more

Keen boxer Isabella Cherrett was thinking of ways she could help the people of Ukraine when she read an article about life in the refugee camps.

With her father's help she raised more than £1,000 to buy sports equipment for those displaced by the Russian invasion.

Isabella, who's registered with England boxing, drove with her dad James, 47, all the way to Poland where she bought the equipment.

The sports star then delivered it to the Modlinski Export Centre for refugees to enjoy.

Isabella, of Arnold, Nottingham, said: "I wanted to help the children keep fit and healthy, and I believe sport to be one of the biggest coping mechanisms in life."

After reading about how Ukrainian refugees were being forced to roll up coats to play football, Isabella decided to take action.

An amateur boxer and keen sportsman herself, she wanted to help refugees focus on something other than the Russian invasion of their country.

So, after weeks of fundraising in her local community, Isabella raised £1000 to spend on sports equipment and drove with dad James over to Warsaw on April 7.

They hired a van, and bought goals, footballs, tennis rackets, boxing gloves and other sporting equipment from a Sports Direct in the capital.

After ferrying the supplies to the Modlinski Export Centre, the father daughter duo then taught refugees how to use the boxing gloves, pads and other sports equipment.

They returned to the UK nine days later, determined to revisit the camp with more supplies later this year

Isabella said: "Sport is so important in time like these as it brings people together.

"I wanted the kids to be able to keep fit and keep positive, and exercise releases endorphins which make you feel good.

"It's great for the mind, and I thought these children could do with something else to
focus on right now.

"Once I had the idea there was no going back, and dad really helped me with raising the money and travelling out to Poland.

"We bought all the sports equipment you can imagine, and the look on their faces when we arrived made it instantly worth it.

"I was teaching them how to use the boxing gloves and pads and they were really loving it.

"It was a special trip, and we are planning to return in the summer to give more aid.

"Dad is working on plans with other volunteers to build an area just outside the camp where children can play safely on a day to day basis."

Isabella's father James, said: "This was all her idea I just helped facilitate it - I can't tell you how proud I am of her.

"Now we've been out there we want to do more to help and are already planning our next trip to Poland.

"There are currently roughly four a half thousand refugees at the camp, and that number is growing every day.

"Our goal is to make life as comfortable for those people as possible for however long they will be forced to spend there."