We are losing donations – please help
One of our key fundraising platforms, Virgin Giving, is about to close down. We are set to lose 2,000 regular supporters – a disaster for us and for refugees, which we must avoid. If you do just one thing to help refugees, please consider making a regular donation. Regular donations allow us to respond immediately to emergencies without waiting to fundraise first. Go to Care4Calais.org/donate now Thank you so much …
Pauline’s Calais diary – part one
A couple of days ago, we shared a brief story about Pauline, a retired teacher and grandmother. She’s been volunteering in France with Care4Calais for the last three weeks. Here is the first of several beautiful and heart-rending extracts from her Calais diary. April 1, 2020 — After preparing hot drinks and food packs in the morning, I left to take K* to the hospital for his appointment. The wound on his hand had festered and the clinic asked him to return after 24 hours. When I got to the camp, I couldn’t find him, but he was there, curled up …
Watch: Fear in the camps – a refugee speaks
Refugees are living with constant fear about their health, food and water as COVID-19 takes away the little support they had. Hamid in Calais talked to us about how he felt. You can help by donating here. …
Covid-19 survey: Food and shelter fears worse than ever
Over the last two weeks we surveyed 150 refugees across Calais and Dunkirk to gather data on the impacts of Covid-19. We want to assess both our own response and most-needed actions. The results are interesting. Almost half (48%) of those we talked to have only been in Calais for three months or less. This is a reminder of how transitory the population is – particularly given that for the last month there have been rigid travel restrictions in France and the rate of new arrivals has dropped. Only 14 people told us that Coronavirus was a primary concern for …
Stuck at home? Use your talents to help refugees
People are doing amazing things to raise money for refugees during this desperate time. Even if you are in isolation, there is so much you can do to use your talents to support our emergency fundraising appeal here. Cat Emberton has been making jewellery professionally in Camden for seven years. She organised an online sale via her Instagram account – Gypsy Silver – and sold some of her personal jewellery and some items she had made herself at discounted prices. The sale took place yesterday and raised an amazing £1475 in just one hour. Other donations that came in after …
Volunteers left helpless as refugees yearn for the basics
Today a quiet Iranian man approached me. He asked if we could distribute hand sanitiser. I sighed thinking of the evenings spent writing to companies begging for donations of sanitiser, but had to explain that we don’t have enough. It’s just too expensive to buy right now. He innocently said: “But we need it – there is sickness and we can’t wash our hands.” I felt so guilty because I was wearing gloves and would be washing my hands many times that day. The inequality was a gulf between us. ‘Helpless’ is an understatement for how I feel right now. …
‘This has changed me’: Outgoing volunteer shares her story
Heidi has been with us in Calais for just over two weeks. The theatre-maker from Liverpool was among the first group of workers in the UK to have their work closed last month and she decided to go to Calais immediately. Before she left, she told us about her experience. “I work in the Everyman and the Philharmonic theatres in Liverpool, and they had to close because of the rule about mass gatherings. “I was planning to come out anyway. I’d booked a week, and then all this stuff kicked off, and my job closed, and I thought I can …
Man badly burnt by French police CS gas attack
I’ve seen a lot in in Calais over the last four and a half years, but yesterday something happened that took me back to the worst of 2015/16. As many services have shut down, we often get asked to take people to hospital. It’s hard as we are a small team and busy, but had to help a young man who had been sprayed in the face with CS gas by the police. This has become common in Calais, but as I got closer I could see, rather than the red eyes and puffy face I expected, serious burns covering …
WATCH: What do refugees think of the food packs?
On food distribution yesterday, we asked the refugees what they think of the food packs we give out. This is what they told us. Refugees and migrants in Dunkirk and Calais are under threat from Coronavirus (COVID-19) and also from lack of food. Please support our emergency appeal here. …
Emergency appeal for Calais – please share
This is today’s shopping list. Each week, to feed every site in Calais and Dunkirk, we need to make 330 food parcels at a cost of approximately €4,450. This is incredibly hard to sustain, but right now we have no choice. We can no longer buy in bulk from the UK and we are clearing shelves at three Lidls in Calais every other day. Our volunteers are working long hours to make up hundreds of nutritious packs each morning. Refugees and migrants in Dunkirk and Calais are under threat from coronavirus (COVID-19) and also from lack of food. Please support …
