Raised: 65%
Target: £5,000.00
Raised so far: £3,257.42
Donate now

My story

 
Thank you for visiting our Justgiving page!
Wondering what we are doing and why?

In a large multi-purpose room in South London, passionate teachers hand out worksheets, encourage their pupils to attempt the exercises, caringly correct and raptuously applaud success. This is an English language class like we'd hope to find anywhere. Only, the teachers teaching here have no computers, no projectors and hardly any paper.
The resources the teachers use they have collected themselves. The white boards are exhausted and whiteboard cleaner is hard to find.
Their pupils - often in their teens - are also not your average foreign language students either...they are refugees.
These young people learning here have fled their home countries having survived unimaginable experiences - ethnic cleansing, bereavement, torture and terror - and have experienced severe hardship and trauma before reaching the UK.

The Day Centre is one of 5 across the country run predominantly by volunteers of The Refugee Council, the leading charity in the UK working to support the refugees who enter this country. The charity’s facilities also include the One Stop Service which provides advice to refugees, a specialist mental health team, children’s services, amongst others - all desperately in need of funding and supplies. 

People have said this is an unpopular cause in uncertain times but never ones to back down from a challenge 19 employees from The Guardian have taken up the task of raising £5000 for the Refugee Council to improve their Day Centres and support the work done with 'age-disputed children'. Many children have no documentary evidence to prove their age and a significant proportion - some as young as 14 -  may be treated as adults, placed in adult accommodation or in detention centres.

Most of us have no sales experience but on the 18th of May, we will spend the day working against the clock to secure as many cash donations and gifts in kind from the Refugee Council's "wish list" as possible...anyone have 300 tubs of moisturiser?! If you did answer 'yes' to that question or think you can help with the wish list, please email sara.linfoot@guardian.co.uk

This appeal is not only about the refugees, but also about making sure that the people who work with them are best equipped to do so. It is about treating people as human beings first and then refugees.

Please help us by donating through Justgiving. It is quick, easy, totally secure and the most efficient way to sponsor us: Refugee Council gets your money faster and, if you’re a UK taxpayer, Justgiving makes sure 25% in Gift Aid, plus a 3% supplement, are added to your donation.

So please sponsor us now!

For more information about the Refugee Council, please watch this very short BBC documentary, presented by Mariella Frostrup.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=diAmpQm3T5Y

In The Guardian's Refugee Council fundraising team are: Sara Linfoot, Paula Stanford, Charlie Vincent, Amanpreet Dhother, Amjad Hussain, Angela Skupin, Kirsten Buckley, Charlie Wilkie, Declan Foley, Eliza Anyangwe, Katharina Kirchner, Emma Regester, Heather Skillington, James Rogers, Steve Colmer, Matthew Perkins, Traci Smith, Richard Gracey and Paul Lancaster

Well DONE Guardian readers - all the best. What a great idea & such a great cause. Sorry this isn't more. Donation by Monica Sheaf 27/10/09  

£5.00 + £1.41 Gift Aid

Donation by Anonymous 08/07/09  

£30.00 + £8.46 Gift Aid

Gracias Stanford x Donation by Turnips! 07/07/09  

£21.00 + £5.92 Gift Aid

Donation by Anonymous 07/07/09  

£25.00 + £7.05 Gift Aid

Donation by Traci Smith 30/06/09  

£50.00 + £14.10 Gift Aid

Donation by Heather Skillington/herbal Hill raffle! 29/06/09  

£26.00

Donation by anonymous 26/06/09  

£25.00 + £7.05 Gift Aid

Donation by Paula Stanford 24/06/09  

£54.00

Donation by Anonymous 22/06/09  

£5.00 + £1.41 Gift Aid

Donation by Paula 19/06/09  

£100.00 + £28.21 Gift Aid

Donation by mariam 19/06/09  

£30.00 + £8.46 Gift Aid

Great project, I'm sure they appreciate the hard work! Donation by Jennifer Melmore 19/06/09  

£50.00 + £14.10 Gift Aid

A great cause. Donation by Emily Foster, orchestra 08/06/09  

£10.00 + £2.82 Gift Aid

Good skills Eliza Donation by Mark Williams 04/06/09  

£10.00 + £2.82 Gift Aid

thank you ..... Donation by Holly 03/06/09  

£20.00

Donation by anonymous 29/05/09  

£20.00 + £5.64 Gift Aid

Donation by Paula 29/05/09  

£125.00 + £35.26 Gift Aid

So happy to help such a good project Donation by Clive 27/05/09  

£20.00 + £5.64 Gift Aid

Donation by mark 27/05/09  

£60.00 + £16.92 Gift Aid

Donation by Clare B 27/05/09  

£10.00 + £2.82 Gift Aid

me again! Donation by Paula 21/05/09  

£10.00 + £2.82 Gift Aid

Great sales skills James! Donation by Emma Foley 21/05/09  

£5.00 + £1.41 Gift Aid

A truly marvelous cause Donation by Anon. 21/05/09  

£220.00 + £62.05 Gift Aid

a pleasure to be part of this project xx Donation by sara linfoot 21/05/09  

£50.00 + £14.10 Gift Aid

good luck to the Refugee Council - you do a great job Donation by Paula Stanford 21/05/09  

£30.00 + £8.46 Gift Aid

Such a worthy cause - I'd give more if I could. Donation by Traci Smith 21/05/09  

£60.00 + £16.92 Gift Aid

Donation by Paul Johnson 20/05/09  

£100.00

Paula, this is actually redistribution of your Marathon sponsorship! Donation by Helen Mayor 20/05/09  

£15.00 + £4.23 Gift Aid

Best of luck from Wendy Wu Tours (The Best China Specialist Tour Operator) ;o) Donation by Wendy Wu Tours 20/05/09  

£100.00

Donation by mark 20/05/09  

£20.00 + £5.64 Gift Aid
Donate now
 
* Total raised online: £2,096.42
  Offline donations: £1,161.00
  Gift Aid plus supplement: £506.68

* Charities pay a small fee for our service.
Find out how much it is and what we do for it.