Historic tugboat M/S Alpo continues charity voyage back from Normandy to Finland, collecting aid for Ukraine
Today, on 10 June, after four days in the port of Caen, the M/S Alpo team is embarking on the final leg of its charity voyage back to Finland, continuing to raise money to support the Armed Forces and welcome guests on board the historic tug.
The M/S Alpo arrived in Kahn on 6 June, the D-Day celebration, having sailed a month and a half with a charitable purpose - to remind Europeans in each port of call of the importance of supporting Ukraine and to raise funds for the Ukrainian Armed Forces. The event was initiated by the owners of the ship, Jukka Juola, Markku Kankaala and Martti Haapala, who have been supporting Ukraine since the beginning of the full-scale invasion and have renovated the World War II-era ship for the event.
Throughout the voyage, the M/S Alpo team actively collected donations for the Safe Skies charity fundraiser, launched by UNITED24 fundraising platform ambassador and Yale history professor Timothy Snyder. "Safe Skies is a modern Ukrainian development that can detect air targets and predict their route for further neutralisation. This helps protect Ukrainian cities from Russian attacks.
By docking in the port of Caen, home to the Peace Memorial, a memorial complex dedicated to the events of World War II, the voyage organisers and the M/S Alpo team became part of the 80th anniversary commemoration of the Normandy operation, which opened the Second Front and marked the beginning of Europe's victory over fascism.
The historic tug M/S Alpo, which took part in the Normandy landings in 1944, set sail on 27 April from Oulu, Finland, where it has been stationed since the end of World War II. During this time, the tug stopped at ports in Finland, Sweden, Denmark, Germany and finally France. Open days were held in each harbour, during which visitors were given tours of the ship, told about its history and drew parallels with the present, calling for support for Ukraine.
M/S Alpo Project Manager Janne Leinonen shared the achievements of the charity mission and announced the second phase of the project: "Since the beginning of our journey in late April from Oulu, we have visited 11 ports, and everywhere we have been visited by people and the media to support the symbolic mission of M/S Alpo. Many people followed our journey to Normandy. For example, in Germany, the warship F223 escorted the convoy to show its support and respect for the historic mission carried out by the tug.
At every step of the way, we saw great interest in M/S Alpo and decided not just to return to Finland, but to continue our campaign, stopping at new ports on the way to our native Oulu."
The charity goal of the project is to raise 100 thousand euros for the UNITED24 fundraising platform."
M/S Alpo is close to reaching the goal, having already helped raise more than 50 thousand euros. These funds will be used to protect Ukrainian cities from Russian missiles and drones.
Social media of the M/S Alpo project
https://www.instagram.com/d_day_alpo/
https://www.dday-alpo.com/
Link to the collection: https://u24.gov.ua/safeskies
