Ukraine campaign gets big boost from small business as they add support and cash to refugee appeal
Small businesses make a big difference as they join forces to give support and donate money to Mail Force Ukraine refugees appeal after call from entrepreneur and TV presenter Alison Cork
Businesses are getting behind the Mail Force appeal to help Ukrainian refugeesA jeweller, a yurts rental firm and a single mothers network are all chipping inThey’ve come up with innovative ways to donate such as giving £1 per clientIt shows the best of Britain after two tough Covid-hit years for small businesses
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Britain’s small businesses are today joining forces to boost the Mail Force appeal helping Ukrainian refugees.
An interior design entrepreneur, a jeweller, a yurts rental firm and a single mothers network are among the first to offer their support – and money.
Each has come up with an innovative way to donate to the cause, such as giving £1 per client or £10 per booking.
As well as swelling the appeal fund, the initiative shines a light on the nation’s small businesses after two years of hardship during the pandemic.
Children lying in a bomb shelter in the city of Mariupol. The conflict has so far displaced more than 1.5 million people, with refugees flooding west into the European Union
A girl sits in an improvised bomb shelter in Mariupol. Britain’s small businesses are doing their bit to contribute to the Daily Mail’s charity appeal to help those affected by the war in Ukraine
As more firms join in, donations will soon add up – with the scheme given the tag ‘small business, big difference’.
The idea is the brainchild of entrepreneur and TV presenter Alison Cork, who is donating £10 per order received by her online interiors business Alison At Home.
She said: ‘As a business owner myself, I knew our most resilient and resourceful community of entrepreneurs would rise to the challenge of donating to the Ukrainian people.’
Miss Cork, 58, who presents ITV’s Don’t Move, Improve and Channel 4’s Cowboy Builders, is also a business ambassador for the British Library.
She said: ‘By nature, entrepreneurs like me sit and twitch, and want to do something to help.
TV presenter Alison Cork (pictured) is donating £10 per order received by her online interiors business Alison At Home
The money raised by the Mail Force charity – in record-breaking time – has already been put to good use, with aid workers funded by our generous readers
‘This will encourage people to buy from their local businesses, and they in turn will support the Ukrainian refugees.
There are 5.6 million small businesses in the UK, who could make a very big difference with this campaign.’
The initiative is the latest boon for Mail Force, which became the fastest newspaper fundraising appeal of all time when it launched a week and a half ago.
Generous readers, companies and philanthropists have now given an incredible £4.5million.
This includes £500,000 donated by the Mail’s parent company DMGT at the request of Lord and Lady Rothermere.
The Mail Force charity, which does not use a single penny for admin, is distributing the money to good causes on the ground in Ukraine and neighbouring countries.
Jules Hawkins, who runs the Single Mums Business Network in Ross-on-Wye, Herefordshire, is giving 10 per cent of her members’ fees for three months.
She said: ‘What’s going on in Ukraine is so heartbreaking. I’m a great believer in trying to do something. This won’t stop the war but it will make a small but tangible difference.’
Miss Hawkins, 45, who has a ten-year-old daughter, added: ‘We just want to do our bit for the children of Ukraine.’
Becca McClure decided to act after seeing the heartbreaking pictures of fleeing families with small children.
Her Leeds-based glamping and events hire business North Sky Yurts will donate £10 from each booking to the appeal.
Mrs McClure, 31, mum to two-year-old Kellan, said: ‘As the mum of a toddler, the thought of being uprooted, forced to run out of your house, your city is unimaginable.’
Anne Arkle, who runs Jaspersparkle Jewellers making rings from silver spoons in Anglesey, North Wales, struggled through the coronavirus lockdowns like small businesses everywhere.
She feels lucky to have got through the hard times, and now says it is time to help others.
Miss Arkle, 55, said: ‘After Covid, I know I am lucky to be safe and have shelter and so I thought I’d help and put aside £5 from each sale. It is only a little but it will add up.’
Last night humanitarian group Care International’s Helen Pankhurst – the great-granddaughter of suffragette Emmeline – told the Mail: ‘There are very many reasons why it is vital to support those fleeing war, and for women and girls there are extra reasons that are very difficult to think about.
‘Imagine the horror of giving birth in a bomb shelter while bombs go off. Or in a foreign country, on the run, with no family support.’
