A Polish priest in the Archdiocese of Southwark has spoken of his experience delivering food to lorry drivers stranded on the M20 motorway in Kent over Christmas.
Almost 5000 people were fed as part of the mission, backed by the Polish community in the UK, who baked fresh bread, cakes and doughnuts overnight for distribution on Christmas Eve.
Fr Bartosz Rajewski, a Polish priest in charge of the local Polish Catholic Mission at South Kensington, sought permission from the Polish Embassy to offer pastoral support to the drivers at Manston Airport in Kent.
He was joined by Fr Dawid Jasinski, who is in charge of the local Polish Mission in Lewisham, and Marcin Mazur, a member of the Catholic Polish Community in London and photographer for the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales.
“We had to give the drivers the possibility of Confession at Christmas and opportunity to talk with a priest. In Poland, Christmas is an extremely family-orientated occasion. Being away from home during these holy days is very hard to bear,” Fr Bartosz said.
According to the Archdiocese of Southwark the priests offered drivers Christmas blessings, prayers and the chance to receive a blessed Christmas wafer, traditionally shared with loved ones in Poland at the Christmas Eve meal.
Mr Mazur said: “‘There is tradition in Poland at that dinner we keep one empty space on the table for someone who might join us, and we always should welcome that person. In Dover, the Polish community brought food to those that needed it, as such, filling that empty space at the dinner table.”
In a statement Archdiocese said its community was praying for the ongoing safety and welfare of those stranded in Kent.
Asked what memory will stay with him Fr Bartosz recounted a particular incident where one particular van had run out of goods and they had nothing to offer the Polish driver that approached them. “A Ukrainian driver overheard our conversation and shared the contents of his bag equally with the Polish driver. The moment had particular significance as he broke the bread in half. This was the true spirit of Christmas.”
From Kent itself, Fr Jeff Cridland, parish priest of the Parish of the Good Shepherd in Dover, made the parish hall available as a food distribution centre. St Teresa's at Ashford collected and distributed food donated to support lorry drivers stuck around Ashford.
By 24 December, the Salvation Army had provided 1,000 packs of sandwiches for lorry drivers on the M20. Captain Marion Rouffet said this involved a small team of staff and volunteers from The Salvation Army’s Kent base, using their emergency vehicle to deliver bagged meals to Kent Police for distribution to drivers in need.
Care4Humanity, an initiative of the Latter Day Saints, who worship in Canterbury but many of whom live near the coast, posted thanks on Facebook on Boxing Day “to all who made donations to provide food packs to over 1000 stranded in stationary traffic in Dover and beyond.” They served breakfast and evening food packs, and ran free tea stalls, working from the Eastry bypass and Ashford area.
“Your support has helped many nationalities feel the warmth of humanity,” said the post. Those stranded were not only from lorries but families in cars and vans and border control and ferry staff who had waited hours trying to get to work.
The Sikh community was among the first to respond. Gravesend’s Sikh Temple cooked meals that were delivered by a Sikh charity, who were also seen taking scores of Fish and Chips meals from a Dover shop. Hundreds of curries were delivered roadside to stranded truckers. For much of the time deliveries were not allowed inside Manston Airport and food had to be passed over or under the fence.
Volunteers from Gillingham's Muslim community put together hot food packages for the stranded drivers and then transported them to affected areas. Safir Bhatti, president of the Nasir Mosque in Gillingham, reported delivering packages which included sandwiches, curries, rice, and water. “We’ll keep delivering to the stragglers until it clears up” he said; “service to humanity is part of worship to God, and we’re glad to do it."