The sum of £6,545 was handed over to charity Dnipro Kids to help them resettle Ukrainian orphans they have brought from the war zone to temporary refuge in Scotland.
The money was raised by people buying Porty Robots specially decorated in Ukrainian colours. The Porty Robot Maker prefers to remain anonymous and so the sales were coordinated through Portobello art collective, Cahoots. One hundred percent of the proceeds has been handed over to the charity.
Karen Mackay from Cahoots put out a call for people to sponsor a robot to give to Ukrainian children who arrived in Scotland this week. Karen said: “Thank you to the Porty Robot Maker. I thought they had put a ceiling on how many robots they would make at about 20 or 30, but so far we have sold 300 and the Robotmaker is happy to keep producing them as long as people want them. It will only be the Ukrainian robots they will make for now, and the Robot Maker will continue their magic hiding amongst us.
“When Dnipro Kids first heard of the Porty Robots, Stephen from the charity asked if he could buy some for the children, but I put a shout out for people to sponsor a robot for each child. People were allocated a name with the age of the child and they are making up a gift bag for “their” child, and in each one there will be a Ukrainian robot. So hopefully when they go home to Ukraine in the future their robots will go with them.”
Jackie Stark fundraising coordinator from Dnipro Kids said on Tuesday just before the children arrived in Scotland: “There are 50 children and 9 adults on their way to Scotland. The plan is that they will go to Hibernian FC first of all where there are gift boxes for the children before they are then taken to Callander where they will stay for 12 weeks.
“We have been donated huge things like bunk beds and food, but all of this money will go towards helping them settle in Edinburgh and in Scotland. This is massive for them. None of these kids had left Ukraine before, none of them had passports and had not ever left Dnipro.
“So this feels like a huge adventure for them but I am sure in a couple of weeks time they may realise they are missing home. This money will be used to take them on great experiences and lots of trips while they are here. They still have to do school work but this will help a lot. Thank you so much everyone.”
If you want to donate to the Dnipro Kids appeal then while Cahoots say they have enough sponsors for a robot to be given to each Ukrainian child, there are still robots for sale.
Dnipro Kids was set up by Hibs supporters following a football match against Dnipro in 2005. The charity set up a base in Medyka on the Polish/Ukraine border to bring the children to safety.
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31/03/22 Just a quick update. The monies raised through the sale of the robots has now been passed to DNIPRO KIDS. Unfortunately, there are no more robots to buy at Cahoots. And the waiting list for them has now been closed.
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