{"id":54379,"date":"2025-11-22T01:23:24","date_gmt":"2025-11-22T06:23:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newssprinters.com\/index.php\/world\/wrapathon-continues-to-bring-joy-to-ukraine\/22\/11\/2025\/"},"modified":"2025-11-22T01:23:24","modified_gmt":"2025-11-22T06:23:24","slug":"wrapathon-continues-to-bring-joy-to-ukraine","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newssprinters.com\/index.php\/world\/wrapathon-continues-to-bring-joy-to-ukraine\/22\/11\/2025\/","title":{"rendered":"Wrapathon continues to bring joy to Ukraine"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\n<\/p>\n<div data-article-body=\"true\">\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">The organiser behind an annual Christmas event for children in Ukraine said it continued to bring joy to them four years on.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">The &#8220;Wrapathon&#8221;, which started in December 2022, involved hundreds of volunteers gift-wrapping toys, books and other donated items at events held across the country, including in Ipswich.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Organiser Jeremy Fish of Plant &amp; Hire Aid Alliance said since its inception, 65,000 gifts had been donated.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">He added he was always &#8220;bombarded&#8221; with photos of the children opening the presents in January, which he described as &#8220;lovely&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">&#8220;They send us back all these photographs of the presents being unwrapped and the joy on their faces and the parents&#8217; faces,&#8221; he explained to BBC Radio Suffolk&#8217;s Sarah Lilley.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">&#8220;I had a very touching note from a parent&#8230; they said to me, &#8216;Jeremy, I don&#8217;t know what the Ukrainians need more at this stage, is it weapons or is it gifts?&#8217;.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">&#8220;I was puzzled by this, and I read on.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">&#8220;The parents said, &#8216;Actually, we need gifts because if our children are happy, then it gives us as parents a great deal of comfort at these very challenging and difficult times.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">&#8220;I thought it was a lovely and touching note.&#8221;<\/p>\n<figure class=\"relative mb-4\">\n<div class=\"relative\"><button aria-label=\"View larger image\" class=\"group absolute bottom-3 right-3 size-10 md:size-[50px] lg:inset-0 lg:size-full lg:bg-transparent\" data-ylk=\"elm:expand;itc:1;sec:image-lightbox;slk:lightbox-open;\"><span class=\"absolute bottom-0 right-0 rounded-full bg-white p-3 opacity-100 shadow-elevation-3 transition-opacity duration-300 group-hover:block group-hover:opacity-100 md:p-[17px] lg:bottom-6 lg:right-6 lg:bg-white\/90 lg:p-5 lg:opacity-0 lg:shadow-none\"><svg viewbox=\"0 0 22 22\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"size-4 lg:size-6\" width=\"22\" height=\"22\"><path d=\"M12.372.92c0-.506.41-.916.915-.916L21 0l-.004 7.712a.917.917 0 0 1-1.832 0V3.183l-6.827 6.828-1.349-1.348 6.828-6.828h-4.529a.915.915 0 0 1-.915-.915M1.835 17.816l6.828-6.828 1.349 1.349-6.829 6.827h4.529a.915.915 0 0 1 0 1.831L0 21l.004-7.713a.916.916 0 0 1 1.831 0z\"\/><\/svg><\/span><\/button><dialog aria-label=\"Modal Dialog\" aria-modal=\"true\" class=\"fixed inset-0 z-4 size-full max-h-none max-w-none bg-white hidden\"\/><\/div><figcaption class=\"relative text-sm mt-1 pr-2.5\">\n<p>Volunteers come together each year to wrap the presents [BBC]<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Mr Fish had hoped 2025 would bring an end to the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, which started in February 2022.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">&#8220;They are so, so grateful for the support of the British public&#8230; it is getting harder now after four years, but we still have to support them,&#8221; he added.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Another large Wrapathon event takes place later at Claydon High School in Ipswich before two 40ft (12.19m) trucks take the presents to Ukraine on 8 December.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">&#8220;It has been a lot of hard work, but a lot of fun,&#8221; he said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">&#8220;There will be some Ukrainians there who are coming to help wrap, so it will be a jolly, fun day where we&#8217;ll hopefully do a bit of good.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\"><em>Follow Suffolk news on <\/em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/sounds\/curation\/p0cjdz3v?xtor=AL-72-%5Bpartner%5D-%5Byahoo.north.america%5D-%5Blink%5D-%5Bnews%5D-%5Bbizdev%5D-%5Bisapi%5D\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:BBC Sounds;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link \"><em>BBC Sounds<\/em><\/a><em>, <\/em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/BBCSuffolk\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:Facebook;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link \"><em>Facebook<\/em><\/a><em>, <\/em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/bbceastofengland\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:Instagram;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link \"><em>Instagram<\/em><\/a><em> and <\/em><a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/BBCsuffolk\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:X;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link \"><em>X<\/em><\/a><em>.<\/em><\/p>\n<h2 class=\"mb-4 text-xl font-bold md:text-2xl\">More on this story<\/h2>\n<h2 class=\"mb-4 text-xl font-bold md:text-2xl\">Related internet links<\/h2>\n<\/div>\n<p><script async src=\"\/\/www.instagram.com\/embed.js\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.yahoo.com\/news\/articles\/wrapathon-continues-bring-joy-ukraine-054135603.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The organiser behind an annual Christmas event for children in Ukraine said it continued to bring joy to them four years on.<br \/><button class=\"read-more\"><a href=\"https:\/\/newssprinters.com\/index.php\/world\/wrapathon-continues-to-bring-joy-to-ukraine\/22\/11\/2025\/\">Read More &rsaquo;<\/a><\/button><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":54380,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/media.zenfs.com\/en\/bbc_us_articles_995\/04848608e65ad2fff549cb7640b99aa1","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newssprinters.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54379"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newssprinters.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newssprinters.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newssprinters.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newssprinters.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=54379"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/newssprinters.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54379\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newssprinters.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/54380"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newssprinters.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=54379"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newssprinters.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=54379"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newssprinters.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=54379"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}