There has been an outpouring of emotion and social action since the image of Aylan Kurdi emerged last week. Activity continued over the weekend with thousands of Britons donating essential items and funding to the grassroots campaign, CalAid.
The focal point of their campaign was in Dalston, East London. James Fisher at CalAid told The Independent that on Sunday evening, there was six tonnes of donations in front of him; with 12 tonnes having already been transported into storage over the weekend.
Green Party leader Natalie Bennett participated at the drop-off point, donating shoes and moving boxes.
Feeling good about human nature at #calaid today - c. 1,000 people volunteering, countless numbers donating pic.twitter.com/rlzAKwBP2S
— Natalie Bennett (@natalieben) September 6, 2015
Watch the video below to get a feel for the scale of the operation.
London saw several drop-off points erected from Uxbridge to Herne Hill; but it wasn’t the only city to participate.
Nationwide, thousands of people donated items to CalAid.
Full details for Chester donations https://t.co/u3q1V24nlc @ChesterChron @Dee1063 @ShitChester #CalAid
— Rachel Gray (@RachelGray17) September 5, 2015
Impromptu collection for #calaid - what a response! People are amazing. #refugeeswelcome pic.twitter.com/zcEBm9PtJc
— Rob Gowans (@Rob_Gowans) September 5, 2015
Collecting everyday this week from 3-6 for #CalAid at the #greentardis @talatyaqoob @maggie4scotland @scotgp pic.twitter.com/VBl1rT0YgE
— Gabrielle Cahen (@GabrielleCahen) September 5, 2015
#hebdenbridge today @HebdenTownHall collecting for #calaid @ribboncircus donating wool for hats and our profits today going to refugee fund
— The Book Case (@bookcasehebden) September 5, 2015
Donations for the #refugeecrisis welcome in the uni of Southampton from 10am today! Building 58/1035! #CalAid #southamptonaction #soton
— Bekk Escott (@justbekk) September 7, 2015
Bloody overwhelmed by the generosity today #refugeeswelcome #burlesque4refugees #calaid #calais #Norfolk2Calais pic.twitter.com/ko83uHNxJp
— WunderkammBurlesque (@wunderburlesque) September 6, 2015
Mr Fisher told The Independent that supplies coming from one source rather than individuals driving to Calais will ensure that queues will be no more than 500 people long.
At the moment lunch queues can extend to more than 2,500 people, which represents a five hour wait. “People are condemned to a day of hunger” if they choose to queue for clothes instead.
CalAid intends to stop this. They reached their crowd funding target in just one day and they now plan to have 20 permanent volunteers on site in the Jungle Camp within six months.
