Supporting a refugee family to settle in East Dunbartonshire.
ED welcomes refugees is raising money for CITIZENS UK
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UPDATED 26/11/2021
Such a lot has been happening I thought it was time for an update. We completed our 3000 miles virtual walk from Syria to Scotland last weekend with a group walk from Kirkintilloch to Huntershill House in Bishopbriggs. As most of our meetings are happening on zoom it was great to meet face to face and chat with other group members.
Our talented volunteers have been attending local craft fairs with a wonderful variety of hand crafted goods, including beautiful cards printed from original artworks, knitwear, recycled/upcycled products and jewelery. Many of the people we've spoken to have already been aware of our group, thanks to social media and local newspaper articles, and the overwhelmingly positive feedback we are getting is wonderful.
This week we are expecting delivery of a beautiful EDWR calendar filled with photos of the East Dunbartonshire wildlife and scenery taken by local resident Carole Templeton. They will be available for a suggested donation of £8 so watch our facebook page for photos and info on how you can get hold of one.
Following the completion of our Syria to Scotland virtual walk we have started a shorter hike from Huntershill, Bishopbriggs to Herne Hill in London, a mere 400 miles. The #communitysponsorship group there have just welcomed their second family and on our virtual arrival to the area we plan to send a small welcome gift to the Syrian family who are settling in. By building connections with other #communitysponsorship groups around the UK we hope to share fundraising ideas and tips for how to successfully set up a welcoming home and community for a refugee family arriving from abroad.
I'd like to thank all our supporters for their donations and purchases over the past few months and look forward to meeting more of you over the coming months.
OCT.21 - WE HIT OUR MINIMUM FUNDRAISING TARGET OF £9000!!!
We've been blown away by all your support and donations. But we're not going to stop there. We believe there's no limit to the generosity of the people of East Dunbartonshire.
We've learned from other Community Sponsorship groups around the country that it's very hard to put an exact figure on what will be needed. So our fundraising journey will continue and we have increased our target to £13,500.
Although much of the support we will be offering the family is being provided by our wonderful volunteers, there will be initial home set up costs and ongoing professional services that we need to cover, e.g. interpreters and English language classes.
Anyfunds raised that are not used in support of the first family to arrive will be used to welcome another refugee family in need.
Our group - We are 18 volunteers from East Dunbartonshire, living in towns like Bearsden, Bishopbriggs, Kirkintilloch and Lenzie. We are blessed to live in a beautiful area and want to offer safe accommodation and support to a refugee family from somewhere in the world.
Too many families' lives are paused because of war and conflict. We have it in our power to offer them a fresh start.
To help inspire you, we are walking the equivalent distance
between Syria and Scotland as part of the fundraising effort.
The sooner we hit the fundraising target, the sooner we will be able to get a family over here. Please give whatever you can.