A South Yorkshire entrepreneur joined forces with a world champion Ukrainian boxer who visited the UK last year, with special permission to support the relief effort in the Ukraine. 30-year-old Nicky Story, founder of Supplies for Candles, stepped up to support the Ukraine relief effort this week, contributing over £60K worth of stock having responded to the latest request for assistance by the Ukrainian Government, centred around candle supplies and the material for making candles, as the country continues to experience severe power outages
Last week, the supplies started to arrive in Ukraine, after leaving Yorkshire just before Christmas. The candles have now started to arrive in Kharkiv (Kharkov) the second-largest city in Ukraine and the teams there are ready to make trench candles.
Mexborough-based business, Supplies for Candles - the largest online company in Europe within the industry, donated 50,000 (3 arctic truck loads) of blue and yellow candle jars to the region- totalling £60K retail value. They are coordinated with their suppliers Chorley based Kerax who also donated 5 tonnes of wax and Dorset based Symwick who donated 50,000 wicks and to go with the candle supplies, which sees the whole effort valued at a retail price of £100K from small business support.
The Ukraine media reported; "In the conditions of temporary difficulties with electricity supply, the access of residents of Kharkiv region to alternative sources of light and heat is urgent. Therefore, timely support in such conditions was the provision of assistance to Ukraine in the form of a large batch of components for the production of long-term candles in the amount of 50,000, from our friends and partners from Great Britain. On January 27, they gradually began to arrive in Kharkiv."
Volunteer organisations will continue making candles, handing them over to communities and those in need. Ukrainian boxer, WBO champ, Sergey Fedchenko, who visited Nicky at the Supplies for Candles factory in Mexborough, is helping to coordinate the teams on the ground in Ukraine.
No stranger to philanthropic endeavours, Nicky, who started his business in his garage just 5 years ago and now turns over £15million said: “After seeing the horrific stories on the news, and feeling powerless to help, once I heard via Ivan, that the Ukrainian Government had requested assistance with candles and candle supplies, I knew I could help and had to help. Being able to help light tens of thousands of homes during a time of unimaginable hardship is the very least I could do to show my support.”
Sergey Fedchenko said: “People in Ukraine feel under threat every second from Russian aggression. Even today over 80 missiles attacked civilian homes and critical infrastructure and now, thousands of homes remain without electricity. Thank you, Nicky and your company, for the important help for my country! Everywhere I feel friendly support for our charity project”
Transport and logistics have been arranged by Peter Sawrij of Thomas Coombs Limited (Chartered Accountants) via Orchard Green Limited and Halifax based Ivan Kuzio who works with Ukrainians in Calderdale. Peter, whose grandfather was Ukrainian, was approached by Ivan to use his network of connections to highlight individuals/companies that could offer assistance. Peter said ‘’As soon as Ivan came to see me I knew I had to approach Nicky as he would be just the right person to help."
