What are we doing?

James and I want to help raise funds and awareness about the ongoing situation for refugees and The Bike Project, a charity based in London.

The world now faces the greatest refugee and humanitarian crisis since World War Two. Back then, my grandmother was a child refugee in the UK, having escaped the Holocaust in France.

It took her and her aunt two years to walk the 500 miles at night, from her home town of Montargis, just south of Paris, to San Sebastian in the Basque Country after her parents' murder by the Nazis. From here she was evacuated by the British Red Cross and adopted by a family in the UK.

We are aiming to roughly retrace the route on two wheels over two weeks (knees willing) in October. Your support would be invaluable.

Know that an outdoor jaunt is something we are partial to and so it may not seem worthy of sponsorship, but this isn't about us! (It is a bloody long way though!)

Why The Bike Project? 

We found out about The Bike Project through my work at Volunteering Matters.

Imagine living on £36 a week. It's enough for food, perhaps, but what about travel? If you need a new pair of shoes, what sacrifices will you have to make? These hard choices are the daily reality of a refugee in London. Bikes to the Rescue! 

The Bike Project take second-hand bikes, fix them up and donate them to refugees and asylum-seekers. Why? One of their bikes can save a refugee £21 a week in bus fares. Having fled persecution and atrocity in their homeland, a bike helps them access food banks, legal advice, healthcare, education and more.

Since 2013, The Bike Project has given away nearly 3,000 bikes to refugees from dozens of countries including Syria, Eritrea and Albania.

They also run cycle training for refugee women, empowering them to take control of their own transport – perhaps for the first time in their lives.

What can you do? 
1. Donate any change you can spare now (and add gift aid if you can), pretty please. Every £10 helps one more refugee start cycling safely.

2. Donate your old bike to The Bike Project to be fixed up and given to a refugee to get on the road: https://thebikeproject.co.uk/pages/store-locator

3. Volunteer! Find out more here about volunteering with The Bike Project: https://thebikeproject.co.uk/pages/volunteer