Giving two Syrian families a home
Donation protected
Want to help change a life and make a difference to your community?
Two whole families' lives in fact. With just one donation.
If you, like us, have watched endless horrifying news reports of the destruction in Syria, and seen images of families forced to run for their lives from their homes; and if you, like us, felt that you wanted to do something - anything - to help, then we have the perfect opportunity for you.
The Welcome Committee is a group of concerned Londoners doing something positive as a community to support refugees. We are doing this through sponorsing two Syrian refugee families to settle in London - giving them a fresh start, the chance to rebuild their lives in peace and hopefully have a new place they can call home.
These refugee families have been identified by the UN
Refugee Agency (UNHCR) and the Home office as in need of resettlement, and the Home office select the families for us. Once they arrive, they will have official refugee status.
The Welcome Committee will be doing everything from finding the family members a place to live, to getting their medical checks, setting up bank accounts, helping them learn English, getting the kids into school - meeting all of their needs as much as we can for two years. We hope that this will give them the best chance of really settling into life in London.
But we can't do this alone - we need your help.
We're currently raising money to get going, which is the first in a long list of steps to bring the families over here. As you can imagine, moving to London and starting your life over from scratch doesn't come cheap, so we really want to raise as much as we can.
Just think how it will feel for them to have this opportunity to start again, and to feel welcomed, safe and settled in a new home and a new life.
You can make this happen today. Please give generously. Every single penny of your donation will go towards helping the families start their new lives in London - we have no overheads to pay or staff costs to consider. And if you're interested, we can send you regular updates on how the families are settling in.
This is your chance to change lives. Please donate today, and share with anyone else you think might want to help.
Thank you.
PS If you are interested in setting up a group like this of your own, or just to read more about the scheme, have a look here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/apply-for-full-community-sponsorship
Gofundme have asked us to add the following iinformation.
1. Who we are
2. Where we're from
3. Our relationship to the parties we're raising funds for
4. How the funds will be used (be specific as possible)
5. If we intend to withdraw the money, how we plan to send the funds to the parties we're raising money for or use the money on their behalf
Our responses:
1. We are a community group, mostly formed of colleagues who work at Amnesty International – many of whom work on refugee issues.
2. We are based in London.
3. We are going to be the community sponsors for two Syrian refugee families, as per the government scheme to allow community groups to sponsor refugee families . We are raising funds as this is a requirement of the sponsorship, so that the families have access to a contingency fund before they have a sustainable income for themselves.
4. The funds will be used as required: for transport costs eg travelcards, for groceries, for school uniforms for the kids, for anything necessary in the early days. We can’t be more specific as we won’t know the exact costs until we know the specific needs of each family.
5. We will probably manage their funds, but we will have a registered UK charity that will guarantee these for us.
Two whole families' lives in fact. With just one donation.
If you, like us, have watched endless horrifying news reports of the destruction in Syria, and seen images of families forced to run for their lives from their homes; and if you, like us, felt that you wanted to do something - anything - to help, then we have the perfect opportunity for you.
The Welcome Committee is a group of concerned Londoners doing something positive as a community to support refugees. We are doing this through sponorsing two Syrian refugee families to settle in London - giving them a fresh start, the chance to rebuild their lives in peace and hopefully have a new place they can call home.
These refugee families have been identified by the UN
Refugee Agency (UNHCR) and the Home office as in need of resettlement, and the Home office select the families for us. Once they arrive, they will have official refugee status.
The Welcome Committee will be doing everything from finding the family members a place to live, to getting their medical checks, setting up bank accounts, helping them learn English, getting the kids into school - meeting all of their needs as much as we can for two years. We hope that this will give them the best chance of really settling into life in London.
But we can't do this alone - we need your help.
We're currently raising money to get going, which is the first in a long list of steps to bring the families over here. As you can imagine, moving to London and starting your life over from scratch doesn't come cheap, so we really want to raise as much as we can.
Just think how it will feel for them to have this opportunity to start again, and to feel welcomed, safe and settled in a new home and a new life.
You can make this happen today. Please give generously. Every single penny of your donation will go towards helping the families start their new lives in London - we have no overheads to pay or staff costs to consider. And if you're interested, we can send you regular updates on how the families are settling in.
This is your chance to change lives. Please donate today, and share with anyone else you think might want to help.
Thank you.
PS If you are interested in setting up a group like this of your own, or just to read more about the scheme, have a look here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/apply-for-full-community-sponsorship
Gofundme have asked us to add the following iinformation.
1. Who we are
2. Where we're from
3. Our relationship to the parties we're raising funds for
4. How the funds will be used (be specific as possible)
5. If we intend to withdraw the money, how we plan to send the funds to the parties we're raising money for or use the money on their behalf
Our responses:
1. We are a community group, mostly formed of colleagues who work at Amnesty International – many of whom work on refugee issues.
2. We are based in London.
3. We are going to be the community sponsors for two Syrian refugee families, as per the government scheme to allow community groups to sponsor refugee families . We are raising funds as this is a requirement of the sponsorship, so that the families have access to a contingency fund before they have a sustainable income for themselves.
4. The funds will be used as required: for transport costs eg travelcards, for groceries, for school uniforms for the kids, for anything necessary in the early days. We can’t be more specific as we won’t know the exact costs until we know the specific needs of each family.
5. We will probably manage their funds, but we will have a registered UK charity that will guarantee these for us.
Organizer and beneficiary
Catherine Weston
Organizer
Zrinka Bralo
Beneficiary
