London2Calais: Winter Solidarity

London2Calais: Winter Solidarity Appeal
supported by rs21, Movement For Justice, London Palestine Action, Defend The Right To Protest and HaLOL

Facebook: www.facebook.com/London2Calais
Twitter: @LDN2Calais #donate2calais 
Email: [email redacted] 
 
There are an estimated 6000 people living in 'The Jungle' refugee camp without adequate food, water, sanitation and shelter.  On recent convoys we have noticed that the camp is rapidly becoming more and more crowded as greater numbers of refugees continue to arrive. French police have cleared all additional camps which had been established in Calais Town, further increasing the density of tents and people cramped into the 'The Jungle'. We met pregnant women from Syria, young boys from Afghanistan and men from Sudan, Darfur, Eritrea, Pakistan and elsewhere based in the camp. Due to lack of medical facilities and inadequate sanitation, illness is spreading through the camp. People will struggle to make it through the coming winter months.


Our Previous Convoys
 

15th August 2015:

Our 7 car convoy delivered food, clothes and essential supplies to refugees in the Calais camp. 

As well as distributing 400 food packages in the 'The Jungle' we also provided a generator to power a school in the camp.

On this convoy we spent £2400. The bulk of this was spent on food.

29th August 2015:

We sent 3 cars with clothes donations and 9 volunteers to help French charities with their clothes distribution. We reached over 500 people that day handing out clothes, sleeping bags and food. 

We also spent £300 on a much-needed water pump for the camp on this convoy

19th September - Refugees welcome, Day of Action:

We transported over 100 people to Calais to join refugees and french organisations for a march through 'The Jungle' to the fences of the port. We packed a 50-seater coach from London and directed several cars. We did not spend any campaign funds on this action - the coach was funded entirely through ticket sales.

3rd October - 1500 parcel food distribution

We aimed for 1000 food parcels but thanks to your support exceeded this target and distributed 1500 supply packs to refugees in 'The Jungle'. Our team consisted of 70 people and 22 vehicles. The video above covers this distribution.

17th October - Open Dover: Let Them In!

We chartered 3 coaches to take activists from London to Dover where we marched with local anti-racist groups, trade unionists, students, lesbians & gays support the migrants, rs21, green party and labour party activists. We blocked the ferry port and demand the borders be open now! We did not spend any campaign funds on this action - the coach was funded through ticket sales.

24th October - London2Calais Refugee Solidarity Summit

100 people came together to discuss the refugee crisis with speeches from Wilf Sullivan of the TUC, Natalie Bennett, Leader of the Green Party, Movement for Justice activists including former Yarl's Wood Detainees, rs21, Black Dissidents, Syrian refugees and many more. This event was funded through ticket 

29-30th October - Secours Catholique new warehouse

We dispatched a team to help Secours Catholique move to a new, modern and much larger warehouse

31st October - 2nd November - Family Support

We worked closely with l'auberge des migrants activists to collect shopping lists of items needed from families with young children in 'The Jungle' and bought them the supplies they need. We spent about £300 on these essential supplies.

Our projects for November:
Let Them In 
We are shifting the focus onto action which can help refugees in Calais get to Britain. Watch this space for updates. Please fund us to help make this possible...

November solidarity convoy: 21st November 2015

On 21st November we took £6000 worth of food to refugees in the Calais camp. We supplied several communal kitchens with food catering for various communities. In addition to this we distributed 1000 indiviudal parcles.

December Winter Solidarity Appeal:

We will be heading to Calais on 13th December to distribute food and essential supplies to help people make it through the harsh winter months. 

London2Calais Welcoming Fund

London2Calais have established contact with refugees who have arrived to the UK from 'The Jungle'. Some of them are being temporarily housed in cheap hotels around London. Whilst they are having their applications processed, the conditions enforced on them are that they can not work and that they must reside at a specific hotel. They do not receive any money whatsoever from the state. 

As we are now in contact with refugees from Calais who are arriving and being temporarily settled in London, we want to provide them with cash to help them. Please give generously, money from this round of fundraising will also go to providing this kind of practical support for new arrivals. 

We are also arranging for immigration lawyers to support them with their case work.

Political funding

In the past our funding has been exclusively for food and aid distributions. This time we want people who contribute to be aware that we may use some funds for the purposes of building a political campaign. Booking coaches such as for the demonstration in Dover, printing leaflets for our Refugee Solidarity Summit and hiring venues costs money, which we so far raised independently from the campaign.

 Our aim is to break even on political campaigns through coach ticket sales and charging entrance to events, however, we would like to reserve the option of using up to 10p in every £1 of our funds towards political work. We would like to be clear that about the fact that donations to London2Calais are going to a political campaign in support of refugees.