Our volunteers are helping freezing refugees – can you?

Early this morning I checked the temperature where I live. It was minus six degrees; the streets all around were covered in an icy covering of frost.

And yet today in my town, and places all around the country men, women and children refugees will be walking the streets in thin clothes, with Home Office-issue flip-flops on their feet.

I know this is true because right now my volunteer group is working round the clock to arrange and sorting distributions of warm clothes for refugees in our area. To see people coming in shivering, their feet clearly chilled to the bone, is heart breaking. But at least thanks to our supporters help and donations we can do something about it.

The sorting takes a lot of time, but it makes it easier to get the clothing to people quickly, and means people don’t have to hunt through boxes to find their size, which can feel undignified. When you’ve been forced to walk around in wintry weather with only the clothes you were wearing when you arrived, that’s the last thing you need.

Accross the country right now our UK volunteers are pulling out all the stops to arrange distributions of warm clothes and shoes in hotels, church halls and other places, so that the refugees we support dont’ have to suffer the cold and indignity of trudging through the ice and frost in flip-flops.

You can buy a new pair of shoes for a refugee for just £15 at Care4Calais.org/donate.