YorkshireAid
Yorkshire Aid is an operating name of Refugees Start.
Charity number: 1166273
Financial Donations
We always need cash – to help us cover the cost of van runs to Calais, shipping to Greece, and occasionally to buy items to send. Historically we have also contributed cash funding to projects and activities in France, Greece, and the UK. This is something we will also consider doing again in future, subject to fund availability and other priorities. It is often most useful, cost effective and environmentally friendly, especially in an unexpected crisis (e.g. a camp fire), to send cash to enable local groups to buy items quickly and locally.
Every donation, no matter how small, will be very gratefully received and put to good use – we promise to spend your money wisely. We are a non-profit organisation, 100% of the funds are used for Refugees, everyone who works here volunteers and gives their time for free.
How to donate Physical Goods:
Contact us to arrange a drop off with one of our volunteers.
https://www.facebook.com/YorkshireAid/
Get Involved / How you can help.
There are a number of ways you can get involved- we are sharing some of our ideas below. However, if you have your own idea for a collection or a fundraiser we would love to hear from you! We have been blown away by some of the very creative campaigns our volunteers have come up with in the past – the incredible “the vicar wants your knickers” campaign being a particularly successful example!
GET MOTIVATED,
arrange a collection for us.
Might you and your friends / family / school/ workplace / community group be interested in collecting items for us?
We collect items for Care4calais (www.care4calais.org) and Help Refugees (helprefugees.org) in Northern France, and regularly make the trip to Calais as soon as we have enough supplies to fill a van.
Their needs lists are here, to give you an idea of their priority items
If you have something in mind that isn’t on either of these lists then please drop us a line before collecting/sending so we can let you know if it would be useful.
Care4calais: https://care4calais.org/documents/Priority-Items.pdf
https://care4calais.org/get-involved/collect-donate/
Help Refugees: https://helprefugees.org/calais/needs-list/
Here’s some example campaigns people have organised before.
Knicker Campaign
Imagine not having clean pants? Hard to imagine not being able to access such a basic thing isn’t it – but there is no water supply in a lot of the camps so a supply of new underwear is always top of the needs list. People desperately need women’s (all sizes), mens (small and medium) and kids’ pants – they need to be new, and of the ‘modest’ type- no glittery thongs please!
(coming soon)
Hygiene Pack
We always need toiletries, and putting together a toiletry pack like the one in the picture is a great thing to do as a group activity. We need items for both men and women, but mostly men & boys for distribution in France.
Snug Packs
A snug pack, like the one shown in the picture above, is a specific collection of items for an individual – these are taken to Calais and distributed there, so we particularly need items for small/medium boys and men.
Plus seasonal campaigns.
Winter
Christmas Advent Box
Reverse Advent: instead of getting a chocolate per day, start with an empty box and every day in the run up to Christmas, pop a useful item into the box.
You can do this individually and bring the box to us or organise a group effort and be a collection point.
Summer
Summer Packs
Sunscreen, insect repellent, cap/hat, small mens tshirts, etc
(coming soon)
Our most needed
donations:
Shelter & Warmth
Tents, Sleeping Bags, Blankets, Tarpaulin, Camping Gear, Tent Pegs, Bivi Bags.
Clothing
Waterproof Coats, Small Mens Clothing, New Socks, New Underwear, Thermals.
Food
Chickpeas, Dried Pulses, Rice, Tinned Fish & Meat, Protein or High Calorie Bars.
Toiletries
Shower Gel, Shampoo, Deodrant, Soap, Toothpaste, New Toothbrushes.
