The team collecting emergency items for refugees and families in Ukraine is calling for volunteers to help handle the deluge of donations.

The Ukrainain restaurant, Prosperity, in York Street, which has become a hub for donations, has been overwhelmed with offers over the past week.

The restaurant has proved to be a beacon of hope in these dark times.

It has attracted volunteers from across the area and wider, including a number of Ukranian people living in the capital. However, it now needs more people to help this week.

The volume of donations has been so large that the organisers now need extra space to sort and store the items.

St Mary's Church, close to the riverside in Twickenham, has been sorting and storing emergency items over the weekend. At the same time Richmond Council has made rooms available at nearby York House to be used this week.

The restaurant remains the collection point for donations, which are coming from schools and community groups as well as many individuals.

Consignments are being taken in vans and trucks by road to Lviv in the west of Ukraine, from where many broadcasters are now covering the war.

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Cathy Cooper, who has been volunteering, has been posting pictures of the work and volunteers, including Ukrainians Oksana and Sveta.

This morning, she said: 'We urgently need local people to help with sorting through donations today from 11am. Please go to Prosperity Cafe. All hands on deck!"

Council leader, Gareth Roberts, who offered space at York House, said: "Prosperity cafe are doing a great job, taking donations for those enduring or fleeing violence in Ukraine. People are being incredibly generous."

The Church said: "We are pleased that St Mary's Church will be acting as an overspill storage and sorting space for Prosperity's

volunteers .

"A room in York House will be performing the same function on weekdays."

People are asked to take donations to the Prosperity café at 59 York Street, Twickenham, TW1 3LP, between 11am and 9pm. The hub also has a collection box for cash donations to the cause.

Items currently needed include – cold and flu medicines; painkillers; First Aid items; large bandages; Vaseline; rehydration sachets; pasta; canned food; protein bars; men's socks; new underwear/bras; phone power banks; torches; water sterilisation tablets; baby bottle sterilisation tablets.

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