16/07/2026
🚐 FROM CUMBRIA TO THE FRONTLINE: THE BEAST’S INCREDIBLE JOURNEY TO UKRAINE 🇺🇦
Tonight, our Soroptimist group had the absolute privilege of hearing from the incredible Angie, who shared a raw, inspiring, and deeply moving account of her recent mission to deliver a lifesaving 4x4 vehicle to Ukraine.
When Angie Stirk was asked to get involved, she didn’t hesitate. Alongside her fantastic driving buddy, Gail, she set out to raise £3,500 in 10 weeks to secure an evacuation vehicle. Thanks to incredible generosity, they absolutely smashed that goal - raising a massive £4,195!🎉
With funds raised, they gathered essential medical equipment from Cumbria (meticulously detailing and packing every piece) to load up their vehicle.
🛣️ The Journey of "The Beast"
Their designated vehicle was originally named "Elena," but it didn't take long for them to lovingly rename it "The Beast."
To say the journey was an adventure is an understatement:
🌏The Route:A grueling 3-day, 1,300-mile drive.
🔧MacGyver-style Repairs: Along the way, the vehicle’s fuel tank almost completely detached! Showing true grit, they had to ratchet-strap and cable-tie it back to the undercarriage to keep going.
🛃The Border Crossing:They were x-rayed not once, but twice at the intense Poland-Ukraine border.
⏩The Convoy: They met up in the pitch black of the early hours with an all-women evacuation convoy - marking a historic push around International Women’s Day and Mother's Day to support female medical staff on the frontlines. (Over 54 vehicles had successfully gone before them, a mission even featured on BBC London!)
💔 The Harsh Reality on the Ground
Angie and Gail drove "The Beast" right to its handover point, delivering the medical supplies and the vehicle itself directly to its new owner: a courageous female Ukrainian combat medic. She had to wear a face mask to hide her identity during the handover - a sobering reminder of the danger these women face, as Russian forces actively target and threaten the families of frontline medics.
Angie’s talk left us with some incredibly stark realities of what these brave people are facing every single day:
* There is a desperate, critical need for 165 liters of fresh blood and plasma every week.
* The loss of life is so rapid that graves cannot be dug fast enough. Instead of traditional headstones, they are using sarcophagi marked only with QR codes so loved ones can scan them to learn who is buried there.
🇺🇦 How We Can Keep Helping
These all-women combat medic teams are still in desperate need of 4x4 vehicles to pull the wounded off the frontlines. These vehicles don’t sit in warehouses - they go straight to the dirt to save lives.
If you want to support this life-saving work, please visit and donate at:
👉 WomenforUkraine.org
Thank you, Angie, for your bravery, your heart, and for bringing these powerful stories back to us. We are incredibly proud to support you! 💙💛
