Jewellery Quarter based Cordia Blackswan partners with Global Aid Network to provide emergency kits for Ukranian refugees

Cordia Blackswan and Global Aid Network call on Birmingham community to provide emergency kits for Ukrainian refugees

Birmingham-based property developer Cordia Blackswan has partnered with charity Global Aid Network (GAiN) to collect donations for Ukrainian refugees.

Cordia Blackswan will be offering their head office, located at The Bank on Great Hampton Street, as a public drop off point for anyone to donate emergency hygiene kits which will then be shipped directly to those in need.

The developer is standing together with its owners, Futureal, Cordia Group and HelloParks, to provide support for the crisis in Ukraine. The group is donating £663k in addition to the amount raised by its employees to support humanitarian projects in Hungary, Poland, and Romania.

GAiN is a worldwide humanitarian organisation that provides aid and critical care for people in crisis. The organisation is dedicated to bringing hope and tangible help to refugees and people living in poverty, believing that every life counts.

In response to the Ukraine crisis, GAiN is working directly with NGOs receiving Ukrainians across the border to ensure they are collecting the most critical relief items. They are also donating 100% of profits to people in need.

The organisations are calling on the public for urgent donations, with the immediate priority being male and female hygiene kits. To donate an emergency hygiene kit, people can simply purchase any of the products from the list here, and place in a bag for life with “female” or “male” written on the outside.

Kits should be placed in bags for life to ensure that as many emergency hygiene kits as possible can be packed onto the shipping container. The initiative will take place from Monday 14^th March until Friday 25^th March 2022.

Marcus Hawley, Managing Director at Cordia Blackswan, said

The Cordia Blackswan team is deeply saddened by the events in Ukraine, and want to support everyone involved in every way that we can. We have teamed up with Global Aid Network to ensure that refugees are receiving the critical items they need and call on the people of Birmingham to donate anything they can to support the cause.

Sarah Patel, GAiN UK Operations Manager, said:

Every donation we receive means one more person, whose life has been torn apart by this war, that we can bring a practical message that we are standing with them. We are incredibly grateful for every response to give and donate that enables us to send this message of hope.

In addition to donations, the Futureal Group will be identifying their own properties in suitable locations to be used for humanitarian activities. In Poland, the transformation of buildings and the establishment of temporary kindergarten and shelters for refugees has already begun. The work with aid and medical organisations will help to rescue people from Ukraine.

The Cordia Group are also offering its available fully furnished rental apartments in Budapest free of charge to refugee families in need and is calling on its customers to provide housing for those affected by the crisis.

Gábor Futó, Founder and Co-Owner of Futureal Group, said:

We are following events in Ukraine with a heavy heart and with a deep sense of duty to help. I am very proud of everyone at Futureal-Cordia Group, as many of our colleagues have already taken in refugees and many are also preparing to actively participate in the programmes and donations we are organising.

For anyone in Birmingham who would like to make a donation, the drop off point is located at:

The Bank,
22a Great Hampton Street,
Birmingham,
B18 6AH.

Drop off times will be 7.30am-9.30am, 12-2pm and 5-6.30pm from Monday to Friday each week.

Alternatively, if you are making a sizeable donation, you can email info@globalaidnetwork.org.uk and someone will come to collect your parcel. For those based further afield, donation kits can also be sent to the above address via post.

See the list below of items needed in a bag for life donation:

For more information about Cordia Blackswan, please visit: www.cordiablackswan.co.uk.

To read more about what GAiN are doing to support the crisis in Ukraine, and how you can help, please click here.