Telegraph Hill Welcomes Refugees (THWR) was set up in July 2021 with the aim of welcoming a refugee family fleeing conflict to resettle here.

Community sponsorship is a UK gov endorsed refugee resettlement programme that will enable us to welcome a refugee family into our local area and help empower them to rebuild their lives here in the UK. It's a practical response to the mass displacement of people across the world due to war and persecution. A refugee family supported by the Telegraph Hill Welcomes Refugees community sponsorship will be in addition to any pledges made by Lewisham Council, which means that our group will directly impact the number of refugees welcomed to the UK.

Our first priority is to raise a minimum of £9000 to get approval for resettlement from the Home Office. This amount is the minimum required by the Home Office to demonstrate the group can financially support the costs of supporting a family above social welfare entitlements - for things like a deposit for housing, interpretation costs and expenses on arrival.

THWR will secure a home for at least 2 years for the family and welcome them to our neighbourhood where we will continue to support them with orientation, learning English, signing up to a GP, setting up a bank account and enrolling children into school.

We are keen to engage with other local groups serving refugees to understand how best to complement resources already available and support the family after their arrival. We're also working closely with other community sponsorship groups including Peckham Sponsors Refugees, who welcomed a Syrian refugee family to Peckham under the same scheme in 2019.

We are working with local charity partners, Bold Vision to help us with hosting a Just Giving page.

How can you get involved?

- We are using this Just Giving page to crowdfund for our campaign so please do make a donation here.

- get in touch or follow us via our Facebook page or Instagram page @telhill_welcomes_refugees

- consider whether you know any local voluntary groups that would like to work with us and support this project.