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Charlbury Refugee Action Group (CRAG)

Welcome to Charlbury Refugee Action

Keep up to date with what we are doing by signing up to join CRAG. It's free and you receive our newsletters. Just click this link.

You will also find ongoing refugee news at www.facebook.com/charlburyrefugee where we post regularly updated information about the refugee situation, and how people can help. (Note that the Facebook page is accessible even if you are not signed up to Facebook, though you will get more out of it if you are. If you join Facebook, you do not have to use it for any other purposes, nor do you have to publish any personal information.)

Relevant information for local residents can be found on the District Council website.

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A moving film

  • We can heartily recommend a very moving short documentary film, Lifeboat, about people crossing the Mediterranean in tragically unsuitable boats, and the brave people who try to rescue them.

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European refugee news service 

Keep up to date with what is really going on all across Europe (and the Mediterranean) with the voluntary news service 'Are You Syrious?' run from Croatia.

It's also on the Medium app and on the Are You Syrious? Facebook page

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Where does our money go?

CRAG supports Attika 
Thousands of refugees continue to be stranded in camps in Greece and elsewhere in Europe. Moria camp on Lesvbos is one of the overcrowded, squalid camps of the Greek islands. It houses 13,500 people living in tents and shipping containers in an area that was barely designed for 3,000. 
A recent Guardian article described conditions as being ‘chaotic and inhumane’ and highlighted the fact that more than 1,000 child refugees and migrants in Greece now are unaccompanied, the highest figure since early 2016. Many Greek people and organisations provide vital help to the people trapped in these camps. One such organisation is Attika which runs one of the two largest aid warehouses in Greece distributing in bulk to other NGOs, directly to arriving refugees, to the residents of several refugee camps including Moria, to those who become patients and expectant mothers in the local hospital and to the local community in need. For further details see www.attikahumansupport.com. CRAG recently made another donation to Attika to help fund its vital work. For further details of CRAG see http://www.charlbury.info/community/crag

CRAG helps Help Refugees!

We are very conscious of the need to use the money raised through the generosity of people like yourselves to help refugees as effectively as possible.

So we support organisations which have a proven track record of providing effective aid to refugees. One of these is the charity Help Refugees.

Here they tell their story: “We help where the need is greatest. Flexible and fast in our response to the genuine needs of refugees, we fill gaps and act where big NGOs and governments don’t. We have helped over 722,500 people, managed over 25,000 volunteers and support more than 80 projects across Europe and the Middle East.”

The Guardian wrote: “Help Refugees have fed the hungry and housed the homeless, and there are people living now thanks to them who would otherwise be dead.”

For more details see their website: https://helprefugees.org/

Collections of clothing and bedding

This is suspended for the duration of the coronavirus emergency. 

We are still collecting suitable clothing, sleeping bags, blankets, tents, food, hygiene items and other survival essentials for refugees and asylum seekers. Most of what you donate goes to people living rough or in rudimentary camps in northern France, though we have also been able to contribute to containers going to Greece.

It is not easy to find people willing and able to drive to Calais with cars or vans full of such donations. However, we are pleased to say that we are in touch with groups based in Didcot, Stratford and High Wycombe who are doing just that, and our good friend Anne-Marie has taken several car loads of donations with her when she drives to work in Brussels.

We have members in Charlbury and nearby towns and villages who act as collection points, where you can take your donations. Some people organise collections in their schools, churches or clubs. A mention in a newsletter, or a notice on a noticeboard, might be all it takes. Might you be able to help, too?

Exactly what are we collecting?

This varies over time, so it is essential to check the current Help Refugees 'wants' list before telling people what is needed. That updated list can be found here at any given time. In general, please remember that large clothing sizes are completely inappropriate, and there is rarely any need for children's wear. There is often also an excess of women's clothing. And the need for clothing that is warm and waterproof is self-evident.

We can accept donations of things that are on the list, but unfortunately we cannot take things that are not on the list. Please email charlburyrefugee@gmail.com to arrange delivery to us.

Donating food. When buying food from the Refugee Community Kitchen list, please make your money go as far as possible. Remember you can often buy twice as many tins of (e.g.) tomatoes or chickpeas from Lidl as you will get for the same money in the Coop or Waitrose. There is more information about RCK here. They are a truly amazing organisation.

If you would like to join the team helping with these collections, or if you already have things to donate, drop us a line at charlburyrefugee@gmail.com and we will get things moving.

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You can read our privacy policy and privacy statement here, and there is additional information on the sign-up form.

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Our constitution

Read the CRAG constitution here

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To contact us, please email charlburyrefugee@gmail.com

Charlbury Website © 2012-2020. Contributions are the opinion of their authors. Heading photo by Alan Sinclair. Code/design by Richard Fairhurst. Contact us. Follow us on Twitter. Like us on Facebook.