Background
Below is the original diaries kept by Stevie Carr and Mark Strachan, two Hibernian Football Club supporters who have single handedly (with a little help from their friends) organised and set-up the Dnipro Appeal. The idea was first mooted on a Hibs message board. Within 2 days it was dying a death and after 4 days of inactivity I decided to get involved …
6th September, 09:08 PM A good idea but looks like it might fizzle out. Just watched a programme on the TV about a donkey charity in Africa where the local kids were all given football strips donated via one of the Scottish charity workers. At the moment there are a pile of Hibs strips sitting in Sports Soccer for about a tenner each. How good would it be to get supporters to chip in and take a load of these over and hand them out. Maybe even try and do a deal with Sports Soccer for a bulk buy? A dozen or so volunteers with buckets at the home leg would go some way to starting a collection off. Is it too late to get this in the Dundee United programme?
6th September, 09:25 PM I am going and could help over there but work and distance make it difficult for me to do any Edinburgh stuff. If this falls through I will be nipping up to Sports Soccer and buying a couple of strips to hand out over there.
6th September, 09:31 PM I have initiated email contact with the club and will post the outcome. There you have it. In the space of 23 minutes late on a Tuesday night I had taken on what was about to turn into one of the most moving events of my life. What was about to happen over the next 3 weeks was nothing short of miraculous. Let me tell you how things progressed .....
7th September This was the day that I started scouring the Internet for places that might benefit from assistance. I came across a few sites and started initiating email contact to see if they required any donations. In the meantime West Lothian based Hibs supporters Jill Sinclair and Mary Greenlees are out doing what females do best and are scouring the sports shops for Hibs tops at bargain prices. I now start to push the idea of a turnstile collection to see whether I could pull in enough volunteers.
8th September I received a reply from a Christian organisation that suggested I get in touch with an American called Mike Pratt who was based in Dnepropetrovsk. They supplied me with his email address so I sent him an email explaining our plans. At this point Mark Strachan comes on board and offers me some much-needed assistance, as things are really starting to take off very quickly.
9th September I received a reply from Mike Pratt. He explained that he regularly visits orphans on the outskirts of the city that could do with donations of clothing. He explains that the age range of the kids is between 6 and 14. In the meantime I am fairly active on the message boards gauging interest. I start a new thread entitle Dnipro Appeal and try and focus the interest for donations and a collection. Hibs supporter Mike Saddler gets in touch to tell us that he should be able to help out with some buckets for a collection and over the next couple of days supporters start to volunteer their services for a turnstile collection as well as offering football strips and clothing to take over. The first real financial donation comes in from Jamie Hanlon who commits himself to £70 to buy 14 reduced price Hibs tops from Sports World in Livingston.
10th September More offers of help and clothing donations come in via the message boards. I receive a lengthy email from Mike in the Ukraine and he gives me a comprehensive insight into the Sanatorium we intend to help out. He also gives details of a pregnancy crisis organisation and a wing in a state hospital especially for abandoned babies. He also explains that charity aid can sometimes be difficult to get into the country.
11th September More activity on the message boards regarding the organisation of a turnstile collection and the hunt for volunteers to take collection buckets. More importantly at this stage though both the Hibees Bounce and Hibs.Net websites set up prominent donation links allowing supporters to start making online donations to the appeal. The details are also issued to Celtic Website, Kerrydalestreet.co.uk, Hibs opponents that upcoming weekend. David Hardie from the Evening News returns an email saying that he has passed the details onto the news desk and someone will be in touch to do a story.
12th September A phone call from Elaine Morrison at Hibernian brings potentially disastrous news. We are informed that for a turnstile collection to take place we will need to apply for a permit from Edinburgh Council! Given the usual length of time taken for these processes to take place and the game 3 days away we fear the worst. A call to the council confirms that the usual time for an application to be processed is 28 days. My heart sinks. However, after explaining the appeal and the 3-day timescale, council officials warm to the idea. They explain that they could fast-track the application at their end but as the application requires clearance from the Chief Superintendent they could not make guarantee it would be ready. A call to the Chief Superintendents licence department finds officials equally keen to assist in the appeal, which gives the turnstile collection a glimmer of hope. Fax numbers are exchanged and both departments are on standby for the submission of an application. But I live in Perth and work commitments prevent me from getting to Edinburgh and submit the application!! Up steps Livingston based Hibs supporter Barbara McDonald in the hour of need!
13th September With the turnstile collection hanging in the balance Babs heads down to Easter Road to collect the letter of consent from Elaine Morrison. She heads off to the council offices and submits the application that would, if processed in time, allow a turnstile collection. In the meantime an article explaining the intentions of the appeal appears in the Evening News. Mark Strachan and Babs McDonald collect the buckets from Mike and start sealing them up, I make up badges for the volunteers …. and we wait ……
14th September Amazing efforts by the Council, the Chief Superintendent’s office and Babs MacDonald means that we have the required permit for a turnstile collection!! Final preparations are made for the turnstile collection and volunteers are given details on where and when to meet. Buckets are made up at Mark’s House and I collect them ready for the next day’s collection.
15th September The day of the home leg. Everything is in place for the turnstile collection and thanks to the Evening News, Radio Forth, HibsNet and the Hibees Bounce, most supporters are aware of the collection and the Dnipro Appeal. All the pushing on the websites pays off as 20 volunteers commit themselves to helping out. Possibly not realising at the time but these 20 volunteers are going to end up collecting the vast majority of the funds and making a huge impact on the lives of many, many children. For this reason alone I think they all deserve a personal mention, so a special thanks to Babs McDonald, Jillian Sinclair, Pamela Cullen, Louise Carolan, Diane Laird, Nikki Oldroyd, Mike Saddler, David and Michael Blackburn, Gibby Newton, Nick and Brian Dishon, David Campbell, Scott Smith, Gary Mitchell, James McCurdie, Tam Gaynor, Barry Wood, Colin Dudgeon and of course Mark Strachan. The collection goes very well and after the game there is a huge feeling of relief that it all came together. Hibs draw 0-0 with Dnipro.
16th September The day after the collection Babs, Louise and Myself meet up with Mark at his house to count up. After a couple of hours of counting we discover that the turnstile collection managed to raise an amazing £2,154!! We head off to the bank to change the coins into notes and our thoughts turn towards how best to spend the funds. I send an email off to Mike in Dnepropetrovsk telling him of the funds available and ask him to give us a list of the things most needed.
17th September Mikes reply tells us that the things most needed are trainers, winter boots, winter coats, bed sheets and medical equipment. He also tells us that the pregnancy crisis centre and the baby hospital would benefit greatly from nappies, shampoos, soaps and baby food. Mark and myself start to compile a list of items and closely liase with Mike as to how the funds could be best used.
18th September I get a call from Hibernian telling me to nip in to the club shop to see Richard Alexander. Richard supplies us with 30 Children’s Hibs t-shirts and a similar quantity of bags to take over with us.