John Shackleton is planning to go to Amsterdam, buy an Ambulance, bring it back to the UK, fill it with medical supplies, then drive to Syria to support those affected by the earthquake.
He is around £5,000 short to be able to undertake the mission and is asking for donations, large and small.
This is the donation page:
https://www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/john-shackleton2023?utm_term=d2vV9Y4pw
John is now 80’s, and has been taking aid abroad since 1990.
John said:
The idea is to do what I have done many times before.
I fly to Amsterdam, and bid for a second hand ambulance, and return to England with it.
From there, I three-quarters fill it with medical equipment, and find two co-drivers, and set off. Originally we going to go to Turkey, but since talking to the Turkish Consulate and Syrian Consulate, it sounds like the Syrian’s are being put to one side. So, we have decided that we are going to go to Syria.
Up until now, my fundraising has been chopping trees, and selling the logs. I can carry on doing that, but the idea is that they want the ambulance now., and I am £5,000 short.
If I could get £5,000 then I could go tomorrow.
People have already been exceedingly generous, not just with money, but with all sorts of help.
I first started this work in 1990, after the fall of Ceaușescu in Romania, and we went into orphanages installing showers and toilets. We did that for around 7-years.
From there, I ran out of volunteers, as we used to go for 3-weeks, but bought an Ambulance from St Johan’s in Starbeck.
We have taken aid to many countriues, includinjg Romania, and from then on to Russia, Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan.
We are what we do, and I am blessed to be fit enough to still do this.
On this journey they will be taking at least 10 wheelchair, crutches and walking frames.
Some of his trips have had problems, including a time he was placed in a cell for a couple of days.
