At the end of February, I will travel to Calais with a group of volunteers from the Centre for Reconciliation and Peace in London to volunteer with Help Refugees. The group I am travelling with would like us to raise some money to gift to Help Refugees on our arrival. The money will be spent by Help Refugees directly on humanitarian aid i.e. food, clothing, shoes, tents.

I am aiming to raise £100, though I realise that many of my friends are on a very low income so this is a very optimistic target. If you can give as little as £1, this would be wonderful.

More about Help Refugees:

Help Refugees has grown from a small group of friends to an internationally respected, grassroots NGO in just two years. They work in Calais, Greece, Italy, Syria, Iraq, UK, Serbia, and Lebanon providing humanitarian aid to people living in desperate situations. They do not have high bureaucratic costs like big charities do -- all of their money goes directly to the people they are serving, they say that "unburdened by bureaucracy, we’re able to respond quickly and effectively". And that they do. They now fund more than 70 projects across Europe and the Middle East, making them the biggest facilitator of grassroots humanitarian aid on the continent.

“Help Refugees is one of the unsung heroes of the European refugee crisis, a young grassroots collective that has tried to create a more dynamic form of aid in Calais and Greece, where even seasoned aid workers admit their traditional models have failed.” – Patrick Kingsley, The Guardian

In Calais, Help Refugees distribute food, tents, clothes, etc. to refugees who are sleeping rough since The Jungle (camp) was evicted and destroyed in 2016 -- many of whom are unaccompanied minors. There are as many as 2000 adults and children currently living this way. There is widespread, unrelenting police brutality, and people have their tents burned, sleeping bags removed, and are sometimes moved on at night by police spraying pepper spray in their faces to wake them up. The UK government helps fund this abuse. Sometimes locals also hurl abuse (and objects) at them. They rely on NGOs like Help Refugees to stay alive.

Any amount you can give would be most gratefully received, and spent directly on whatever is currently most needed by refugees in Calais.