London 2 Dover Cycle For Hackney Migrant Centre

Thank you so much for clicking through and caring about the cause.

We decided to do this muscle snapping cycle on a very bleak recent Wednesday when I (Esther) should have been celebrating at Hackney Migrant Centres summer party where I've volunteered for the last 3 years. The day was postponed due to racist riots across the UK that meant it didn't feel safe to have a a diverse group visitors, volunteers and workers in one place.

The combination of news reports of violent racist attacks, sadness that we could no longer celebrate the great work the charity has done for many years and the news that HMC was also struggling with funding made me feel like complete crap. We couldn't believe our eyes and ears to some of the reports and our hearts go out to those that have been effected but also to those who are effected every day by the insidious racism in the UK. We hope your here reading this because your sick of it all too and want to make a positive tangible change for the better.

The Hackney Migrant Centre was established in 2008 in response to the growing needs of migrants in the local community. The charity currently offers legal and housing advice as well as welfare support to any migrant regardless of status in the UK. Each week we hold a drop session where a volunteer (me!) will sit with a visitor and listen. We find out their needs, share a lunch prepared by the amazing volunteers in our kitchen, and then get to work on unravelling and sorting on what we can do to help.

The last financial year saw:

-Over 700 individuals engage with our housing advocacy and community services.

-81% of homeless individuals receiving housing support successfully found a place to stay.

-85% of visitors with no recourse to public funds who submitted an immigration application now have access to public funds

-Over 2,300 visitors to HMC received a hot meal and we hosted 14 community engagement days at the centre.

Read more here: https://hackneymigrantcentre.org.uk/about-us/

Or talk to me!

In order to help raise some donatiuons we have decided to cycle all the way from London to Dover (99miles +/-!) on Saturday 14th September 2024.

Please help us keep fighting against the hostile environment.

P.s

We're scared!

Esther, Rob & Tom