Communities are coming together to provide clothes and toys for Afghans arriving in the UK.
Little Cherubs, a children’s clothes bank in Chapel-en-le-Frith in the Peak District, said it had been asked to provide clothes for 64 Afghan children who would be staying in a hotel in Congleton in Cheshire.
Cheshire East council confirmed it had agreed to temporarily accommodate a number of individuals and families who worked as “locally employed staff” to support British forces in Afghanistan – and was committed to provide longer-term accommodation for five families.
Sally Depee, who founded Little Cherubs in February to help struggling local families during the pandemic, said she received a call from a social worker friend on Tuesday asking if she could source clothes for the new arrivals aged between one and 13.
She put out an appeal on social media and by midday on Wednesday was sorting through 200 bags of clothes.
“Yesterday I was contacted by a social worker over in Macclesfield. She said, ‘We’ve got 64 children, refugees’ [and] would I be able to help? They are here already but I don’t know when they arrived. We’ve got two huge vans and we are going to take them on Sunday to the hotel in Congleton,” said Depee.
The response from the community had been amazing, she said. “This morning we’ve had 200 bags of donations since 10am. We’ve got prams, we’ve got coats, pyjamas, we’ve had financial contributions from local businesses which have been in touch. People who have seen it on Facebook have asked if they can send money so we are going to buy new underwear for the children.”
She said she felt a strong moral responsibility to help Afghan children: “These are children who have never known anything other than war. They are somebody’s daughter, they are somebody’s son. Let’s help these people and try and give them some dignity and make that transition from being airlifted from their home with only the clothes on their back. If we can do a small gesture by providing them with some clothing and toiletries and toys, why not do it?”
The Manchester branch of Care4Calais, a refugee charity, started a crowdfunder on Tuesday to raise money to buy welcome packs for Afghan refugees containing clothes, shoes and basic toiletries. By Wednesday afternoon more than £22,000 had been donated.
“We have just been informed that Afghan refugees will soon be housed in two hotels in Manchester. Our Manchester volunteers are gearing up to meet them but they need your support. If you are near Manchester and can donate clothes, shoes, phones or other essentials please go to our drop-off map and click on the Manchester pin for contact details,” the charity said on its Facebook page.
Maddy Summerfield, Care4Calais Manchester coordinator, told the Manchester Evening News that donations of notebooks, pens and playing cards would also be welcomed.
“They’re going to be in the hotel system for a while, it often takes a good few months for their asylum claim to get anywhere so we’re in need of recreational type things too,” she said.
“We know they will be staying in hotels around the airport but we don’t know where they will be dispersed to yet.
“They will have to isolate for 10 days and then we’ll be allowed to operate. But this buys us some time to find out what’s going on.”
