Sea Kayaking Articles from P&H Staff, Team Paddlers, and Friends

Category: Fundraising & Activism

We’re Charity Champions!

You may recall that in March of 2022, we set about raising funds for the DEC to support their relief efforts in Ukraine – unbelievably, a year has passed since then!

With your help, we ultimately raised over £88,600, and as a result of this significant contribution, in February of this year, Work for Good (the platform which manages larger donations to the DEC) named us as one of their ‘Sales Fundraising Stars’.

Sadly, the situation in Ukraine continues, leaving many in need of aid. If you wish, you can still donate to the DEC directly on the following link: https://donation.dec.org.uk/ukraine-humanitarian-appeal

Ukraine Fundraiser Update

Although the initial shock of the situation in Ukraine has subsided and the media’s interest has largely moved on, it is clear that much has transpired that money or humanitarian aid cannot fix; loved ones lost, atrocities suffered, and lives forever changed. The war in Ukraine has also, sadly, not yet come to an end.

We are proud to have been able to offer what little support we can, though, and thank each and every person who has supported us in our fundraising efforts thus far, but we’re not done yet!

There are still some ‘Flag of Ukraine’ Virgos available to order on our UK/EU Webstore, and via the dealers below; if you know of anyone in the market for a Virgo, please do let them know:

Ireland

Bantry Bay Canoes

I-Canoe

Germany

Denk Outdoor

Sport Schroer

Gadermann

Norway

Padlespesialisten

Alfa Fritid

Switzerland

Siesta Oppi

Sweden

Aterra

Netherlands

Kanocentrum Arjan Bloem

Italy

Ozone Kayak

New Zealand

Further Faster & Long Cloud Kayaks

The P&H staff who gave up their time in aid of the fundraiser.

A large part of what has been raised so far was via the raffle held for a ‘Flag of Ukraine’ Volan. Congratulations to the winner, Christopher Chan, and thank you to everyone who entered! Here is Chris’ reaction to when we gave him the good news, and what he had to say about his motivation for getting involved:

“When I received word that I had won the Flag of Ukraine Volan, I wasn’t sure whether to believe it and I’m still surprised even now. I’m excited to paddle it soon on the East Coast of the US! I am extremely grateful to P&H, their suppliers, and the staff who donated their time to make this happen.

I supported the raffle because I wanted to be part of a larger community contribution to the Disasters Emergency Committee with the paddling community to the people of Ukraine. It’s heartening that so much was raised so quickly and that the funds will support Ukrainians immediately.”

If you pre-ordered a ‘Launch Kayaks, Not Missiles’ T-Shirt, these were shipped out from the 12th of April in the UK/EU and have just landed and begun to be despatched this week in North America. We really appreciate your support and patience with these!

Once all orders have been fulfilled, we will list any remaining t-shirts on our webstores and the sales of these will also go towards the fund.

Ukraine Relief Fundraiser

We have ceased all shipments to Russia and have heard from both of our Ukrainian dealers who are preparing to defend their homeland in any way they can. When peace returns, we’ll do everything we can to help them rebuild their businesses, but sadly that time is likely a long way off.

These are our dealers in Ukraine:

Mike, with his family…
Anton, with his paddling crew…

These are wonderful people.

We are lucky to live in a stable and peaceful democracy, whilst many live with the harsh reality of the many dreadful wars around the world. This war in Europe, in an area where some of our staff come from, where our customers are being bombed, brings that reality far too close to home. We have no doubt, like us, you are watching the human tragedy in Ukraine unfold nightly, and perhaps feeling powerless to help.

However, we are morally compelled to help Ukraine, and perhaps with your help, we can do so significantly…

Staff across P&H have committed to donating their time, and several of our suppliers have agreed to donate materials so that we can make 20 custom MZ3 Virgos, split proportionally across the size range, in the colours of the Ukrainian flag.

100% of the proceeds from these ‘Flag of Ukraine’ kayaks will go to The Disasters Emergency Committee, a major Relief Fund for Ukraine.

Our dealer network has responded with overwhelming support for this initiative, and so we are also preparing to make an additional 20 kayaks at cost, with any profit from these also going to the DEC.

Furthermore, to enable those who are not in the market for a boat at this time to also support the cause, we have designed a ‘Launch Kayaks, Not Missiles’ t-shirt which is available to pre-order through our webstores, and we will also be raffling a ‘Flag of Ukraine’ Volan 160 in our Lightweight Kevlar/Carbon Infusion layup.

How you can contribute:

UK Residents

Purchase a ‘Flag of Ukraine’ kayak (delivered via a participating dealer), a raffle ticket, or a ‘Launch Kayaks, Not Missiles’ t-shirt through our UK/EU webstore.

EU Residents

Purchase a raffle ticket or a ‘Launch Kayaks, Not Missiles’ t-shirt through our UK/EU webstore, or a ‘Flag of Ukraine’ kayak directly from one of the participating dealers below:

Ireland

Bantry Bay Canoes

I-Canoe

Germany

Denk Outdoor

Sport Schroer

Gadermann

Norway

Padlespesialisten

Alfa Fritid

Switzerland

Siesta Oppi

Sweden

Aterra

Netherlands

Kanocentrum Arjan Bloem

Italy

Ozone Kayak

New Zealand

Further Faster & Long Cloud Kayaks

Residents of North America

Purchase a raffle ticket or a ‘Launch Kayaks, Not Missiles’ t-shirt through our North American webstore.

With your help, we hope to raise in excess of £75,000 ($100,000) over the next few months.

All the best,
P&H Sea Kayaks

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