A Recipe for Success: Fire Engines, Rotary Club, and Passion
What do you get when you combine Actions Beyond Words (ABW), a Morrison Salad Bar (Whole Foods for our American friends, City Market [ish] for Vermonters), a bag of sausage rolls, a 20-year-old reconditioned fire engine from East Anglia, the Rotary Club, and a shared passion for a great cause?
The answer: incredible success—£3,100 (just over $4,000) raised in just two days!
Actions Beyond Words joined forces with active firefighters from East Anglia who had a vision: to deliver reconditioned fire engines to Ukraine. Through a mutual connection, they linked up with the Rotary Club of Diss & District, and from there, a movement was born.
A huge thank you to the extremely generous people of Diss, Norfolk, and the Diss & District Rotary Club for their phenomenal support on March 21st and 22nd, 2025.
Grab a drink—wine, an Espresso Martini, tea, or coffee—whatever you fancy. Sit back and get ready to be inspired!
How It All Began
When Tom Mitchell, Chair of our Board and a newly retained firefighter, had a chance conversation with his watch commander about getting equipment to Ukraine, a spark was ignited.
That discussion led to a meeting between Simon Massey, co-founder of Actions Beyond Words—who has been working in Ukraine for three years—and Chris, an active firefighter, watch commander, and passionate supporter of Ukraine.
Chris wasn’t just eager to donate retired fire engines—he was committed to personally delivering them, moving faster and with greater dexterity than traditional, officially recognised routes. His hands-on approach aligned perfectly with Actions Beyond Words’ model of direct, person-to-person aid. We don’t believe in simply passing things along and hoping they’ll help someday. We make sure donations matter—tomorrow, not in five months or five years.
Twelve Weeks. One Big Dream.
Twelve weeks ago, Chris – whom we’d never met before—sat down with Tom and Brian, a retired executive NHS and clinical care support for Ukraine over 20 years , brought together by sheer chance, and shared passion, they aimed to fund a single fire engine for Ukraine.
What happened next was remarkable. A team that shouldn’t have existed suddenly did. They built partnerships, shook trees, and reached out to their networks for help.
Thanks to ANGLOCO, a leading Fire & Rescue service and fire equipment builder, they sourced an outstanding reconditioned 20-year-old fire engine with just 60,000 miles on the clock – in pristine and ready for deployment.
With support from the Pomerleau Family Foundation, Actions Beyond Words purchased the first fire engine outright—not just as a donation, but as a catalyst, inspiring others to get on board the Ukraine train!
Fundraising took off. Through ABW’s website, firefighter networks, and direct outreach, people rallied behind the cause. Special thanks to Brian & Chris , who had already been working with the Rotary Club of Diss & District whose efforts were phenomena in arranging a bucket collection , getting permission from Morrisons to park the fire engine in their car park and organising a rota of Rotary members & friends to man the collecting buckets in the store and outside for 2 days. With private donations from Jonathan Lubecky, continuing support from Vermont and WDRAC in Tokyo (you’ll have to read another blog for this story)
An Unforgettable Weekend in Diss, Norfolk, UK
When we arrived with the fire engine in Diss, we didn’t know what to expect. In just two days, we raised an incredible £3,100.
We parked the fire Engine outside a Morrisons supermarket, and magic happened—children climbed into the cab, pressed buttons, sounded the sirens, and roared the horns. The joy was electric.
Those two toy fire hats we bought for under a pound (or a dollar)? They might as well have been worth a million—the children loved them so much and the parental donation followed in kind.
A huge shout out to the Diss & District Rotary Club, whose members engaged the community with warmth. As one member put it:
“Sometimes, I don’t think people even know exactly what they’ve given to—but they believe in us.”
That trust means everything, it also means everything to ABW, and to Ukraine.
Special thanks to Sign Force & West Brothers for branding the truck, and turning it into a rolling statement of solidarity.
To everyone who made this happen: thank you.
A Huge Thank You to the Media
Massive thanks to ITV Anglia News for their support. Special appreciation to Russell Hookey, who had one HUGE weekend—not just as cameraman and editor but as personally anchoring evening news bulletin. Russell, you’re amazing!
Also a huge thank you to the photographer from Diss Express—your images captured the heart of this mission.
What made these press teams stand out wasn’t just their coverage, but their genuine engagement. They didn’t just report the story—they believed in it. For that, we are deeply grateful.
How You Can Help
The Diss & District Rotary Club have an ongoing Fundraising online appeal for “Fire Engines for Ukraine”, you can donate here- please follow the links below.
For the UK, use this link as we benefit from GIFT AID, you donation is worth more, with government tax rebate:
https://www.peoplesfundraising.com/donation/The-Rotary-Fire-Engine-Fund
For the rest of the world, use this link, and for the USA, use the 501(c)(3) link to receive a tax refund:
https://secure.givelively.org/donate/actions-beyond-words/fire-engines-for-ukraine
If you’re able to donate, please do. If not, sharing is the most powerful way to help. Every share ensures more people understand who Actions Beyond Words is and what we stand for.
If someone hears our name and immediately thinks, “Oh, you mean the organisation making a real difference?”—then we’ve achieved something special.
What’s Next?
For security reasons, we won’t share real-time updates on where the fire engines are going.
We leave on the 19th, and for about seven days, updates will be limited. Expect just one message:
🚒 “Engine 1 delivered safely. Heading to the next drop.” 🚒
Once everyone is home safe, we’ll tell the full story—loudly and proudly. We hope you’ll share it far and wide because this is an incredible journey worth telling.
Final Appeal: Help Us Fully Equip These Fire Units
The fire engines are ready to go, but they still lack vital equipment.
We want to ensure Ukrainian firefighters—working in unimaginable conditions—receive fully equipped, five-star fire units.
We are making a direct appeal to:
🔥 Fire and rescue services across the UK
🔥 Airport fire departments
🔥 Mountain rescue teams
🔥 Anyone with access to surplus firefighting gear
If you have unused equipment—backup items, spares, or anything sitting in storage that could save lives—please send it to us.
🚒 In one month, we will personally deliver these fire trucks—fully stocked—to the next fire chief in Ukraine. 🚒
If you—or someone you know—can help us secure essential firefighting equipment, please get in touch.
📢 This is your chance to make a real difference.
Thank you.
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