Red Cross playing key role assisting Ukrainians
Elaine Boyd in the foreground with other Irish Red Cross volunteers in Dublin Airport last weekend

Red Cross playing key role assisting Ukrainians

A LOCAL woman was part of a team of volunteers from the Irish Red Cross who assisted Ukrainians arriving in Dublin Airport over the weekend.

Elaine Boyd, 27, from Kingswood, has volunteered in the Tallaght branch of the Irish Red Cross for the last three years and has been instrumental in developing the youth section of the branch.

However, last weekend her key focus was assisting Ukrainian refugees who were arriving in Terminal One in Dublin Airport.

Elaine, and other volunteers from various Irish Red Cross branches, brought the Ukrainians to a designated section of the airport where they were supplied with food, water and documentation shortly after their arrival.

“We were basically bringing the Ukrainian refugees from Terminal One to a room for them in the North Building,” Elaine told The Echo.

“I wanted to help them, so they’d feel welcome coming into Ireland after fleeing the war. They looked very happy and relieved.

Elaine Boyd in the foreground with other Irish Red Cross volunteers in Dublin Airport last weekend

“Some of them already had host families ready, but some didn’t, so they were being sent to places all over the country. There were three buses that went to Clare.”

For a lot of the Ukrainians arriving in Dublin Airport, seeing the Irish Red Cross volunteers wearing the same uniforms as their counterparts along the Ukrainian border offered a sense of reassurance for the new arrivals.

“A lot of them were relieved to see us, because they know the Red Cross and we all wear the same uniform,” Elaine, who works as an SNA in a local school, added.

As people continue to flee Ukraine to escape the war, Elaine said the Irish Red Cross will continue to have a presence in Dublin Airport to assist them on their arrival. She added that she is planning to volunteer again on other weekends in the coming weeks.

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