“We are just one link in a long chain of solidarity.” Pascal Fériau, president of the US Pays de Saint-Omer football club, insists: his action is part of a local dynamic, born at the beginning of March, to help Ukrainian refugees. Tuesday, March 29, at the stroke of 7 a.m., with eight other club volunteers, he will lead a convoy of four mini-buses.
Head to Warsaw, Poland, 1,500 kilometers from Pas-de-Calais. Before leaving, they will have loaded the trunks of the vehicles with basic necessities: nappies, sanitary protection, shampoos, external batteries for the soldiers’ laptops, warm clothes, foodstuffs…
“Our club is built on the values of solidarity. Every year we participate in actions for Restos du Coeur, for example. I learned that a resident of my village was mobilizing for Ukrainian refugees and was looking for help. to repatriate vulnerable people to France, says Pascal Fériau. It was essential for us to do something.” After meeting Mary Meaney, the originator of the Ukrainian Solidarity initiative, the leader offered his support for the logistical part of the operation, by providing the club’s mini-buses and volunteer drivers.
To finance the trip and the purchase of basic necessities, the club launched an appeal for donations. Added to the kitty all the revenue from a match of the National 3 team. “In total, we raised 7,000 euros. 3,000 euros are allocated to travel expenses, the rest was used to buy all the products that we are going to deliver”, details the president of the football club. To inflate the parcels, collections have also been organized before departure.
The arrival in Poland of the nine volunteers, all retired, is scheduled for Tuesday evening. After a night’s rest, the members of the US Pays de Saint-Omer will get closer to their local contact, a leader of an NGO. “She is the one who will tell us where to deliver the donations and who will tell us where to go to find the 24 Ukrainians that we are going to bring back,” explains Pascal Fériau, who wanted to check the presence of a sufficient number of host families in the Saint-Omer sector before committing.
To facilitate communication with the refugees, the wife of one of the players from the club’s National 3 team, of Ukrainian origin, will also be on the trip and will act as an interpreter. All are expected on Thursday morning at the Château d’Écou in Tilques, where Mary Meaney, 49-year-old mother of six, who has traveled to kyiv several times for work in the past, resides.
Its relay in Poland will have to identify the families to be repatriated. “The goal is for her to identify the most vulnerable, those who cannot continue to live in camps or in the metro. If possible, she tries to make sure to choose those who have a link with France”, explains Mary Meaney, who has been welcoming around twenty refugees to her large estate for the past two weeks – orphans, a young mother with her infant, disabled children, but also a former rowing champion who has participated in three editions of the Olympic Games. . “Poland cannot cope alone. There are many women and children in distress.”
In connection with the sub-prefect and the mayor of Saint-Omer, Mary Meaney, who sits on various British boards of directors, is struggling to provide a roof for as many refugees as possible. “The whole village supports us. The football club, therefore, the bakery, which delivers bread to us. The scouts come to take care of the children while we give French lessons to their mothers. We have launched video consultations with psychologists for refugees, but also for host families. We try to do everything we can”, assures Mary Meaney, who now expects the state to take over. “Host families are an emergency solution. Now we have to plan the next step and find something for them to settle in.”