Tim and his wife are with Natalia and Darya.

Tim Pendlebury, a tour guide from Poland, saved a mother and daughter fleeing the war in Ukraine and set up an appeal to support refugees escaping the conflict.

He drove 300 km to the Poland-Ukraine border to collect Natalia and her daughter Darya and then helped them get back together with Natalia's older daughter, who is studying in Poland.

Men are not allowed to leave the capital of the country, which is where Vadim is.

The Polish charity, Caritas Polska, is helping Ukrainians arriving at the border, and Pendlebury has set up a Facebook page to raise money for them.

He has raised over $4,000 from friends, family and followers on social media in two days.

Four years ago, he met the family in the Polish city of Krakow, as they needed directions, and they had exchanged social media handles.

He contacted them last week to inquire about their situation and then set off to meet them.

There was chaos at the border, with charities and frightened women and children coming out, and Ukrainian men going the other way.

A 20-minute journey out of the capital took five hours, and a drive to their home village in western Ukraine took 20 hours.

When the traffic queue at the border didn't move for hours, they decided to leave their luggage and walk the last 10 km, and then the processing on the border took hours.

They had not slept for several nights, and had heard missiles and bombs.

They arrived at his home in the small village of Gilowice at 8am on Sunday, but it was 3.45am when he met them.

He got clothes for Darya from friends and relatives.

The Polish government has put Pendlebury on a list of people they are willing to help.

We want to visit the family when this is over, because we have become friends with them.

Natalia and Darya were happy and thankful when they came to us, but no one expected Putin to invade.

They heard the dull thud of bombs and their lives changed, as she was a banker and economist with a sideline of making and selling jewellery.

For the past three or four days, they only want sleep, peace and a hot shower.

He said there is a great sense of unity in Poland to help the Ukrainians.

He's setting up a fund-raiser and buying supplies from his local supermarket to donate to the Red Cross.

His appeal has received donations from his home country of Australia, as well as New Zealand, South Africa, US, Canada, the UK and Europe, and he has had support from colleagues at Insight vacations.

He shared a video of himself going to the border to show his followers how people are 888-609- 888-609- 888-609-.

He said that donations for tour leaders and tour directors were particularly remarkable because many of them had experienced a tough time during the Covid crisis.

He hopes to start tours in Poland again in the spring and said he will work on creating a new travel itinerary, a journey through Poland and Ukraine in the years to come.

According to feedback from his colleagues, his appeal is called Helping Ukrainian women, children and elderly fleeing Putin's aggression because most Russians are against the conflict.

He has social media channels onInstagram, Facebook, andYouTube.