A philanthropic church minister is raising funds for a trip into the unknown to the Ukrainian border to provide direct help to refugees escaping from war.

Reverend Jonny Gios, of Gateway Church in Kendal, has been a community champion since arriving in the town 11 years ago by providing both pastoral and practical care to a range of causes, including homelessness, flood relief and mental health.

Jonny has been so moved by the plight of the people fleeing their devastated communities he feels compelled to do something proactive.

"I can't just pray for things like homeless people or the plight of Ukraine," he said. "I have to proactively do something about it because my faith is my engine. It's what drives me into community engagement.

"I'm going out there on Monday, April 4, with a Romanian missionary that we support. We've teamed up with a charity there that usually works with gypsy families so they're using their budget and money from what they normally do to help these refugees which is phenomenal really.

"We're heading to a community centre and then taking coaches out to the border and bringing them back to clothe them, feed them, give them some accommodation and then find out what they want to do."

Jonny is trying to raise money through his fundraising page, and said that taking any cash raised with him rather than sending aid has a two-fold benefit.

"We've raised about £400 so far to cover the costs of getting there, but the more money we raise, the more we can help people there," he said

"Taking cash firstly helps the economy of the local Romanians, who have been fantastic in providing succor to the refugees so far, and secondly, until I'm there, I won't know what sort of things they'll need.

"A lot of them will only be arriving with a bag of clothes but I don't know whether they'll want to stay with their own community wherever they go, or if we can help them find a Ukrainian community in other cities around Europe for them to connect with.

"My friend that I'm going with has a contact in Ukraine and they are now conversing over Whatsapp and they speak good English. 

"If we could find a Ukrainian translator in Kendal that could come out with us that would be a huge bonus and we would pay their air fare and bring them with us as Romanian and Ukrainian are very different languages. 

To donate to Jonny's mission, visit his fundraising page.

Read here about Jonny's vigil on the summit of Great Gable for Ukraine.