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It turns our that one of our members, Matilda Velevitch, is the North London lead for Care4Calais. She gave me more information:
She and her (much too small) team of volunteers cover around 550 Refugees and Asylum Seekers in Brent. Many of them are housed in hotels and hostels; some have been dispersed to housing accommodation. The majority of these people, up until now, are from Afghanistan, Eritrea, Sudan, Syria and Yemen. Many are trafficked minors, victims of slavery / torture / rape and organ removal. Others are families or individuals, separated from their families.
Now they are receiving people from Afghanistan. Local communities have been very generous in their reactions and donations. However, food, household goods, women and childrens clothing are not the immediate priority. (But will be needed in the next few months; there will be an appeal for specific donations of clothing etc in the near future.)
What they need now, though, are:
- On site Volunteers to help with deliveries, befriending, running the drop-in events.
- Storage.
- Virtual Volunteers to assist with their Access team (legal aid and other needs)
- TEFL teachers (they run casual classes in Wembley but need to expand)
- People offering other sorts of classes (art / activities etc)
- Old unlocked smartphones (the Home Office removes phones from incoming refugees)
(Nobody has to subscribe to any sort of rota.They just like to have a network of people who can jump in and help when needed.)
If you can volunteer they have a North London FaceBook page Care4Calais North London Group | Facebook (Would require a DBS check for face to face volunteers) They are working very closely with Willesden Food Bank - they also need volunteers!
In addition to this they need money to buy new items when needed . This could be anything from pants, socks, shoes, notebooks for classes, sanitary products.
If you would like to donate there are two options. One fundraiser which is specific to Brent (and a little bit of Barnet - the other side of the Cricklewood Broadway).
The link is: https://www.goldengiving.com/fundraising/NLRefugees?fbclid=IwAR3GFAggrRy_l9jAxtUFMljdBbBihmusv2daiUNr2gvsMB8hcu_wsvAXc_k
or
Donate to the general Care4Calais Afghanistan appeal. Link is:
https://care4calais.org/?fbclid=IwAR2hRDkE-_89qfpY58zjupz26V7q9FNJCwcJmw9NteadEIRWFwMru8Po0Ag#afghan
If you have any questions, you are welcome to contact her at matilda.velevitch@care4calais.org
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