“I ONLY learnt about 19 of them initially but, much to my surprise, there were 600."

Gavin Menzies, a sports coach in Edinburgh, wanted to give Ukrainian children displaced by the war “something to open on Christmas morning” – but he didn’t realise quite how many he’d be able to help.

After three weeks, Menzies had organised his Christmas fundraising efforts and he was able to take all 600 orphans, currently located in Poland, gifts such as dolls, toy cars, painting and crafting sets, and board games.

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“I didn’t know if I was going to be able to make it happen because I’m doing a master’s,” he said. “But I know how important Christmas is culturally within Ukraine and asked the director at an orphanage what the children were doing.

“He told me that the children were probably going to stay in and play games with one another for Christmas because they’ve had quite heavy snow. He didn’t have the heart to say no to them writing out their Christmas wish lists and I felt compelled to answer initially in whatever way I could.”

Menzies said he learnt that all the orphanages across Ukraine were evacuated to Poland early into the escalation of the war with Russia. As a result, there were a total of 600 children, he said, all placed together to share resources.

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He told The National: “I only learnt about 19 of them initially but much to my surprise, there were 600.

“The 19 children are from one orphanage in Odessa and are some of the youngest and most vulnerable health wise within the greater community.

“I pledged support for them but also said that if I could do anything additional for all the orphans, I would.”

The 36-year-old from Ratho quickly began his fundraising. He reached out to some of the organisations he did his master’s placement with.

His efforts received an overwhelming response and ended up with a surplus of toys and gifts, which he donated to children and families in Edinburgh for Christmas.

READ MORE: David Pratt: Six months into the war and a bitter winter of attrition looms in Ukraine

“A singer-songwriter, local to Ratho, Heidi Talbot and I helped form the Ratho Village Children's Folk Choir. They sang Silent Night and put it up on Spotify with all proceeds going to the Orphans of Ukraine.

“The Rotary Club of Currie and Balerno and the Pentland Ukrainian Support Group combined provided me with a further £1500, so I was able to purchase enough board games and toys that a further 600 orphans, all living within this displaced community, would have something to open come Christmas morning.”

Christmas isn't the same without children, he said, and for these children, Menzies believes they wouldn't be the same without having a Christmas.

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Menzies kept his Christmas plans a secret from the children – some of whom he had met before as part of his humanitarian work.

While the children were out on a walk with the orphanage’s director, Menzies wrapped the gifts in the colours of Ukraine’s national flag and kept them in a nearby bothy.

“We kept the whole thing a surprise. When the kids came round the corner and saw it was me, they came running with smiles and laughter.

“We opened gifts and sang songs and shared, in some way, their experience,” he said.

When he first learnt about the children in the orphanages, he raised more than £11,000 for a trip to provide them with clothes, shoes, medical supplies and money.

On his second visit, he delivered more medical supplies, defibrillators and first responder bicycles to newly recaptured frontline villages.

“Why am I doing it? Because I can. I have jobs that have provided me the skills to work with children.

“The misconception I think many people have is what am I going to fix? I'm not here to fix nor do I pretend that's what's happening.

“If by me being present with these children and the directors and carers gives them hope, if it gives them the opportunity to express how they feel or even reframes their outlook for that day, then it has absolutely been worth doing,” he said.