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#1: COLLECT DONATIONS OF CLOTHES AND SUPPLIES

#2: ORGANISE OR SUPPORT FUND-RAISING OR AWARENESS-RAISING EVENTS

# 1: COLLECT DONATIONS

Regular collections

The list of requirements is always much the same, but there are sometimes emergency call outs when specific items are requested

You’re all so generous, and we’d like to thank you for your kindness. When we appeal for help, you never fail to provide items that will make the lives of refugees just a little more comfortable.

Over time, we’ve learned a lot about what’s needed. At the warehouse in Calais, where the donations are sent, sorted and distributed, it’s a tough enough task, logistically and capacity-wise, without them being sent stuff that’s not suitable. There’s not room to store it, and it takes time to separate and redistribute it to other charities or recycling centres – time that could be better spent on other more helpful jobs which will benefit the people we’re striving to support.

Think teenage boys and young men and what they like to wear. That’s the best sort of donation you can possibly send. Hint – they like dark clothing, particularly black!

We’re not being ungrateful, but here are a few things to bear in mind that will make everyone’s task easier:

No clothes for women, children or babies
Small and medium men’s sizes are best – that goes for footwear too
No shirts with buttons
No T-shirts or hoodies with political, inflammatory or violent images or slogans
Nothing that you wouldn’t wear yourself – so, clean and in a good state of repair

Thanks to St. Andrew’s, Hove, who have kindly given us some much needed storage space for our donations.

Could you help at one of our collection days, or collect donations yourself?

Lost to Loved

We have wonderful links with several secondary schools, who give us their lost property if no-one has claimed it. The sizes are perfect for the needs of many of the people stranded in Northern France.

Have you links to secondary schools which could join us in our mission?

Marathon Mayhem

Athletes very often dump hoodies, sweatshirts and jogging bottoms at the start of marathons and half-marathons – and now, they do it to donate to causes such as ours, as much as to avoid having to carry excess clothing for all those miles!

We have permission to gather up what’s left. At the last Brighton Marathon, that was 70+ bin liners full! The clothes are then washed, dried, folded and sorted, ready to go out to Calais – in vans driven by volunteers.

There are other races too, and festivals where tents are left behind.

Could you help collect on the day, or wash, dry and sort clothes afterwards?

#2: ORGANISE EVENTS or support us when we arrange them

Awareness raisers

There’s a lot of stuff in the media about refugees and the migrant crisis – so much so that it’s quite hard to pick out the reality from the misinformation.

We assemble a panel of speakers and may show films or otherwise present reliable, evidence-based information so that you can hear first-hand what’s going on and be able to ask questions about the current situation.

Fundraisers

With the money we raise from different events, we can:

buy supplies directly
pay for transport of donations to Calais
subsidise cost of hall hire if required

Here are some of the events that have been organised for Calais Action Brighton – wonderful, because they bring in a load of different people:

A mammoth mixathon hosted by Gaz Fisher

Gaz Fisher from Radio 4A, Brighton’s longest running underground radio station played an all day and all night vinyl mix of reggae,drum and bass,rock ‘n’ roll,original ska, Detroit techno, breakbeat, dub, jungle and whatever else he found in his record collection!

A Zumbathon hosted by Mon

Fashion for Action and Afternoon Tea at Brighton Dome

A sale of vintage and high-end fashion, with thanks to Preloved of Brighton, and including an auction with signed T-shirts from great people like Caroline Lucas, Stephen Fry, Father John Misty and Katherine Ryan.

Have you any exciting ideas for fund-raising? Let us know and we’ll support you!

#3: VOLUNTEER IN NORTHERN FRANCE

WHAT’S HAPPENING IN CALAIS AND DUNKIRK?

Hundreds of refugees are still trapped in northern France living in makeshift shelters on waste land in very difficult, if not inhumane, conditions.

There are regular reports of refugees being harassed and ‘moved on’ with unnecessary force, the fencing off of locations where aid has been provided, shelters being destroyed, and volunteer aid workers being intimidated by the authorities.

Periodically, some refugees are been rounded up by police and taken to centres where some are offered an opportunity to apply for asylum in France (but with no guarantee of success and deportation if the application fails) while others are forcibly deported.

The increasingly harsh circumstances have driven more refugees to attempt the dangerous crossing of the Channel in small boats rather than risk being forcibly returned to war torn countries, persecution or famine.

Meanwhile, the deteriorating situation in Sudan, Iran and other countries makes it more likely that more people will be driven from their homes to seek safety and asylum. The provision of volunteer support and aid to the hundreds of refugees in northern France has become even more difficult but is now even more essential.

THE ORGANISATIONS

A number of organisations are working in the area. These include:

Refugee Community Kitchen: produces and distributes 1000+ hot meals – prepared from fresh vegetables and ingredients and cooked in a purpose-built kitchen – each day to refugees at locations in Calais and elsewhere where ever a safe space can be found for people to congregate and eat

Help Refugees: provides tents, sleeping bags and more to those forced to live in appalling conditions in northern France and works with other organisations to ensure women and children are protected.

Mobile Refugee Support: works mainly in Dunkirk and provides generators (for charging mobile phones), internet access, sleeping and shelter materials and works closely with Refugee Community Kitchen to provide food and drink.

Care 4 Calais: distributes clothes, toiletries and sleeping and shelter materials and aid (phone charging, hairdressing) and tinned and packaged food and drink to refugees in the area. Care 4 Calais also works in Paris and Brussels where the situation is equally desperate.

#4: PROVIDE ONLINE SUPPORT

We often publish posts on Facebook, giving you the opportunity to like, love, comment or share. Facebook uses an algorithm known as EdgeRank, which adds weighting to your post based on the actions users take towards it.

likes and loves – quick one-click actions which are lovely to see but don’t carry much weight in EdgeRank
comments – require a little more time and commitment so are more highly regarded by Facebook
shares – a much more forceful action, allowing our posts to reach a much wider audience

Please like, love, comment on and most of all share our posts! It really makes a difference.

What about negative comments?

Sadly, the subject of refugees, migrants and asylum seekers often attracts negativity and some of the comments are quite hateful. Tempting though it is, it’s best not to respond judgementally – rather, reply with courtesy, offering information, and compassion to replace the misinformation and intolerance.

It’s quite possible to change the tone of a negative thread, when more and more people post positive supportive comments which rise to the top and relegate hate-speech to the bottom.

Organisations like #iamhere and Hope not Hate work hard to achieve this, challenging hate speech and misinformation.

# 5:DONATE

Donations are always gratefully accepted. You can be sure that your money will be put to good use supporting people stranded in Northern France, living in atrocious conditions. We’ll let you know exactly how we spend every penny we receive.