Irish charity helping to secure gym equipment for wounded Ukrainians

“This war will end but those who have suffered from serious injuries will have to deal with its consequences for decades to come,” said Andy Kelly, one of the three founding members of Misneach.

Misneach – which means “courage” in Irish – is a charity set up by Kelly, a personal trainer, alongside his two friends Brian O’Connor and Billy Procopec. Established last year, the charity aims to support Ukraine, where Procopec is originally from, in any way they can.

“There’s lots of people supporting Ukraine presently but we learned early on that they need more help in the area of rehabilitation,” said Kelly.

Men, women and children are “all going to need rehabilitation for decades” after having suffered from the likes of amputations. “They have some facilities there but there’s no equipment,” he said during a tour of the charity’s cavernous storage facility.

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Located in Tallaght, Dublin 24, Misneach has been supported by the Association of Ukrainian People in Ireland, who have helped secure a 50,000sq ft warehouse to store all the equipment they procure.

“There is a huge shortage of equipment, both medical and gym, and our niche is that we are able to source this equipment that’s lying idle in basements, sheds, warehouses, dentists, hospitals or even just recycling centres,” said Kelly.

“These things are just sitting there, perfectly usable. They might be old, they might be scratched but we can take it, get it over to Ukraine and it is over there making a difference within a couple of weeks.”

Working as a personal trainer has allowed Kelly secure some large donations of fitness equipment.

[ The war has become very personal for certain Ukrainian soldiers ]

Speaking about the generosity of one donor in particular – Dublin-based gym chain West Wood Clubs – he said: “They have been amazing and they have certainly been our biggest donor of equipment so far. They have been incredibly generous and donated close to €500,000 worth of equipment which will last another 20 years in Ukraine whilst helping to rehabilitate thousands of wounded people.”

Trucks leave the storage facility every fortnight to help transport the gym and medical equipment to Ukraine. After the arduous journey, the trucks eventually reach a local contact in east Poland who aids in delivering the shipments across the border to the Ukrainian facilities in most dire need.

“Over 700 medical facilities have been damaged or destroyed by shelling from Russian forces, with others having had everything of value stolen as they retreated. So, there’s a huge shortage of this sort of equipment,” said Kelly.

The warehouse itself is flooded with everything from treadmills and squat racks to spring-loaded resistance machines, as unwanted mattresses from nursing homes and boxes of surgical gowns and gloves line the corridors.

Andy and his friends are backed by a team of nearly 30 volunteers, most of whom are Ukrainian. They help transport the equipment to the warehouse, before taking it apart to aid in the transportation process.

“It is incredibly rewarding when you see something that you have spent weeks or months chasing, collecting and physically manhandling up and down off trucks, to then see it used to help some poor person who has suffered life-changing injuries. These machines are going to help them learn to walk again or use a new prosthetic limb so there is a huge reward in seeing things like that,” Kelly said.

Having already begun to seen their equipment find its way into rehabilitation centres across Ukraine, Misneach is looking to expand its remit to helping provide frontline fighters with dental care.

“For the dental association of Ukraine, we are helping to kit out some mobile dental vans that visit the front lines to provide soldiers with much needed dental care,” he said.

[ Russia raises upper age limit for conscription to bolster soldier numbers ]

When asked what is most wanted by Ukrainian rehabilitation centres at present, he said: “They badly need wheelchairs. They badly need crutches. They badly need walking aids and even things like adult diapers, all those kinds of things.”

The charity do not seek monetary donations from individuals but, rather, look for donations of equipment or the volunteering of time.

Showing videos of some of the equipment the charity has sourced being used by wounded Ukrainians, Kelly said: “It is challenging work but seeing things like that just keep us going.”