We have hit the £300,000 mark in our refugee appeal. Thank you, readers! It’s an unprecedented response to our charity appeal, and we have raised this huge amount faster than in any previous year. In fact, with your help, we have raised 549% more than we raised at the same point last year.
Some of our readers have got in touch to tell us why they are donating, revealing a variety of compelling reasons: they disagree with what they see as inaction by the government, they don’t think they need the state winter fuel allowance they receive, or they were just very moved by accounts of the humanitarian crisis.
Michael Bassey wrote:
I’ve just donated my ‘winter fuel £300’ which I get as an octogenarian from our government. My house is warm enough this winter but I grieve for the cold times facing refugees from tyrannical regimes. They need our help.
Other readers also said they were donating their winter fuel allowance to charity. One donor wrote: “I passed on my winter fuel allowance. There’s a pleasing irony in refugees being supported by the Department for Work and Pensions.”
Martin Harrison, another generous donor, believes we have a moral duty to help. He wrote:
We are very lucky and should be doing all we can to assist. After all our government contributed significantly to the wars in Iraq, Libya and Syria by their indiscriminate support of rebel groups, particularly in the supply of arms. I believe I have a responsibility to try to make amends for those government actions that have contributed to causing the refugee crisis.
One anonymous donor, deeply frustrated by demeaning language used in discussing the refugee crisis, wrote:
This government is so utterly mean spirited, there are many organisations needing support more than ever. The language used by ministers when referring to refugees is so often demeaning and intended to provoke anxieties in Britons so that they will more likely support the government’s harsh approach to those in dire need.
Daphne Charles wished everyone could sleep in safety:
When I lie in my comfortable bed at night, in my modest house safe from the elements, I wish everyone could have the same for themselves and their families.
Another donor echoed this feeling. “I have never before felt such anguish for the plight of people enduring such suffering,” Alison Down wrote, adding: “I was born in 1939 and as I grew up became used to what were stories from adults, but this is happening now in our midst.”
- Please support our charity appeal. Donate here.
- Tell us why you care about our refugee appeal, and get involved in the conversation with the hashtag #WeStandTogether.
