A RECRUITMENT agency has responded to the invasion of Ukraine by mobilising its team to provide food and aid to the country.
Roc Search, based in The White Building in Reading’s King’s Road, specialises in IT and and engineering roles, collected a truckload of aid in just two days. This has been sent to Poland to help refugees arriving there.
It came about after a former company employee, and now managing director of 500 Logistics Limited organised for three truckloads of aid to be sent to a Polish warehouse. He reached out to his friend, ROC Search’s CEO Conor Roughneen, to see if the firm could help fill a fourth truck.
A spokesperson for the company said: “Conor had been wanting to organise the sending of aid to help the Ukrainians for a while now, even thinking about getting a van and driving supplies up himself.
“When Steve reached out, he jumped at the chance.”
The tight timescale meant the company had to pull together, but it already had a head start, as it has been a keen supporter of various charity initiatives over the years.
“Our employees are well-seasoned in mobilising a charity effort,” the spokesperson said.
“We asked our staff if they could donate supplies or money for us to go out and buy supplies. After a few runs to Costco, we managed to pull together countless boxes of food and essentials.
“We’re very lucky to have some incredibly generous employees within the business and everyone pulled together to donate and also help pack all the boxes ready to be shipped out.”
The team are now planning another collection for Ukraine, which will go out with 500 Logisitiscs on their next run to Poland.
And the team’s efforts are not stopping there.
CEO Conor is hoping to house Ukrainian refugees, working with the Reading Ukrainian Centre to facilitate this.
“As a business, we feel we need to do everything we can to help during this crisis, as we are in a good position to do so,” the spokesperson added.
“We’d also like to inspire as many others as possible to do the same.”
When the firm holds its next collection, it will promote it on social media, so others can contribute.
