Blake Envelopes sends aid to Ukrainian refugees

Blake employees packed the 352 schoolbags themselves at the firm's Yeovil site
Blake employees packed the 352 schoolbags themselves at the firm's Yeovil site

Blake Envelopes has joined forces with School in a Bag and Rapid Relief Team to send 352 school bags and 5,300 meals to the Ukrainian border.

Each bag contains essentials like a pencil case, workbooks, water bottle and hygiene kit, so that children can keep up with their education even when driven from their homes.

The donation was initially funded by Blake itself, making up 300 of the schoolbags, with the remaining 52 donated by staff, who packed the bags at Blake’s Yeovil headquarters.

Blake has a longstanding relationship with School in a Bag, and has sent the bags to the charity Te Aud Romania, which Blake partnered with two years earlier when distributing bags to children orphaned at Guru Humorului, a town in northern Romania.

India Broad, marketing manager at Blake, told Printweek: “Whenever there's something going on in the world, we would always reach out to them, they’re our first port of call to see how we can help.

“In recent years, we’ve taken on the bag packing here as well, so the staff actually gets involved doing it.”

Being just 60km from the Ukrainian border, Te Aud Romania was ideally placed to receive the aid and help the huge number of families that have fled to the area.

Just prior to their School in a Bag donation, too, Blake had joined forces with other local businesses in supporting Rapid Relief Team (RRT), a charity that provides food to those in emergencies.

Blake itself donated seven pallets of food parcels - or enough for 5,300 meals - to support RRT’s operation 322, which aims to deliver supplies to those who have been displaced by the war in Ukraine.

These supplies include non-perishable food and care kits with hygiene and personal care items, and parcels of baby formula, nappies, bottled water and blankets for new mothers.

So far, RRT has sent 28 truckloads of emergency aid to the Ukrainian border.