As we see pictures of refugees on our TV screens we can feel helpless in the face of their plight. On 25th October we welcomed Martin Barber OBE to talk about the current situation. You can listen to Martin’s talk here.
There is a helpful article in the Guardian showing a number of ways in which individuals can help: http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/sep/03/refugee-crisis-what-can-you-do-to-help?CMP=twt_gu
Save the Children have a specific appeal to help the thousands of unaccompanied child refugees (seemingly there are 6000 in Italy alone):http://www.savethechildren.org.uk/about-us/emergencies/child-refugee-crisis-appeal whilst the UN Refugee Agency has suggested donations to provide the sort of bedding (high thermal fleece blankets) and other equipment which will see refugees through harsh conditions:http://donate.unhcr.org/gbr/syria/
Relatively modest individual donations of £15 or £30 to one of these charities working directly with refugees will help towards their specific needs.
There are collection boxes for the work of these charities at the back of church and the collection from this year’s Carol Singing will go to Save the Children’s work with refugees.