Help Refugees is a UK-based non-governmental organization (NGO) which provides humanitarian aid to, and advocacy for, refugees around the world. It is the largest facilitator of grassroots aid in Europe and works with over 80 projects in Europe and the Middle East.
Maps, Directions, and Place Reviews
History
Help Refugees grew out of a social media fund-and-donation-raising campaign organised by radio presenter and writer Lliana Bird, TV presenter and writer Dawn O'Porter and artist management assistant Josie Naughton in August 2015. The campaign, with the hashtag #HelpCalais, was intended to raise aid to support refugees in the so-called Jungle camp in Calais.
Bird and Naughton offered to help Bird's former acting teacher, Tom Radcliffe, who was aiming to raise £1,000 and a van-load of donations to drive from the UK to Calais. They met with O'Porter and decided to launch the hashtag #HelpCalais to raise awareness of the crisis and to help raise funds. They used their social media followings and celebrity contacts to spread the word and were overwhelmed with the response: within weeks the group had raised over £50,000 and enough material donations to warrant them relocating to a larger storage space, which was donated by Big Yellow Group. Dani Lawrence, who runs an import company with her husband, offered to help coordinate getting the donations to Calais. A warehouse was located in Calais to store the donations and distribute them from. As more volunteers arrived to help, Help Refugees began efforts to build temporary shelters at the camp, serve hot food, distribute goods and provide other services that were not being catered for sufficiently, working with local associations where possible. From here, the organisation grew to offer aid and support in other areas where refugees were arriving into Europe.
Media coverage
The Guardian chose Help Refugees as one of the partner charities for their 2016 Charity Appeal.
A BBC documentary Calais: The Last Days Of The Jungle featured interviews with several Help Refugees staff and volunteers.
Celebrity endorsements
Celebrities who have endorsed, advocated, partnered and performed for Help Refugees and their fundraising events include Jude Law, Tom Odell and Pamela Anderson.
Collaborations
In June 2017, Help Refugees partnered with London's V&A for Help Refugees: Our Shared Future, a series of discussions in their Lecture Theatre to launch the 2017 Refugee Week.
Choose Love
Choose Love is Help Refugees' rallying cry, created by British designer Katherine Hamnett. It includes a fashion merchandise range stocked at UK online retailer ASOS and a series of music event fundraisers which has included club nights hosted by electronic music website Resident Advisor
In November 2016, they launched a Choose Love pop-up shop in Soho, London and accompanying website, where people could purchase essential items for refugees in the guise of Christmas presents.
Source of the article : Wikipedia
EmoticonEmoticon