The Guardian and Observer refugee appeal took £57,500 in donations on Tuesday – the biggest sum we’ve raised over a 24-hour period so far.
With estimated gift aid of £10,000, that means we raised £67,500 for our six refugee charities in a single day. Your generosity means that we have now hit the £600,000 mark, a phenomenal amount to have raised in just over two weeks.
It is all down to the kindness of you, our readers. Thank you. Your donations will make a vital difference for refugees – men, women and children who are seeking sanctuary from war and oppression, and in search of a life worth living.
This morning a reader, Dorrett Lomas, wrote to us and said:
It’s heartbreaking reading about the nightmare Syrian refugees are facing, we can’t stand by and do nothing. They need our help NOW more than ever. Compassion and kindness in action – thank you Guardian Appeal.
You can also be a part of our appeal, and help support the six charities that work with refugees here.
The Refugee Council is one of these charities. My colleague Amelia Gentleman visited the charity early in our appeal. She met a group of unemployed women refugees from Iran, Afghanistan, Zimbabwe, Saudi Arabia, Eritrea and Sri Lanka who had gathered for the first time in a restaurant kitchen to learn how to bake bread, as part of the Just Bread project.
Anan, 28, said: “Before I came on this course, I was lonely, jobless, not integrated into society, living on jobseeker’s allowance. I was feeling so low and my self-esteem was going down, particularly because I am educated and qualified.”
Amelia reports that the woman was sceptical at first about how a bread-making course might help, but a few weeks later she was in no doubt about the benefits of the programme. “It has changed my life,” she said.
We’ll continue reporting these important stories, that we so often don’t hear about.
We are standing together with refugees, and you can help the cause by donating here.
