RS Express – Celebrating 3 Years Of Aid With Dignity

Happy birthday to us!

 

This week, we’ve been celebrating our third birthday as an organisation!

And it’s been an incredible three years; we have worked in seven camps in Greece alone, and have also worked in Bangladesh and Mexico. Throughout the last three years, our cause has remained the same: to deliver aid with dignity to those who need it the most, and help to restore some normality to people’s lives.

Everything we have done has only been made possible because of the 700+ volunteers who have given up their time to help, the donors who have quite literally funded us to put food in people’s mouths and clothes on their backs, and the many others around the world and at other organisations who has supported us.

But special thanks must also go to Refugee Support’s tireless founders, John and Paul. Without their unfaltering and infectious passion to raise awareness and offer aid with dignity to refugees around the world, Refugee Support would not be where it is today. There’s nothing else we can say about John and Paul other than ‘They absolutely rock!’

It’s always great to reflect on success, but when there’s so much work left to be done, it’s hard sometimes to view our successes as more than a small ripple in a big pond. Whilst we maintain that even the smallest actions are vital for changing the bigger picture, now is a time to look forward, and plan for the future.

So for our fourth year, here are some of the things we would like to do to help support refugees internationally. If you’d like to get involved, please get in touch with us today, and find out how you can join the Refugee Support family!

New projects in 2019

We are setting up a long-term project in Cyprus to help the 15,000+ refugees stuck in Cyprus.

We are will begin with two projects in Nicosia to start with.

Project One will focus on creating a community centre for refugees: a focal point for people to meet and feel more normal, if you will. We plan to provide a safe place for everyone by including a children’s space, a women’s space, and a workshopping space for men, and will also be providing washing machines and showers to help people feel a bit more human, and better equipped to tackle the world.

We are in the process of securing some building space for this project imminently, so keep your eyes peeled for more news on this over the next week.

Image may contain: people sitting, table and indoor

Project Two is the launch of what we are calling our ‘Dignity Cafe’, where we shall provide hot food, and tea and coffee all throughout the day. In cooperation with refugees, we aspire to creating food as delicious as the lunches we enjoy at Cafe Yasmine in Katsikas.

We will be looking for volunteers to help us deliver on both of these new projects very soon, so please get in touch if you would be interested in assisting. No skills are required other than the desire to help those in desperate need.

Below: Volunteers relaxing at Cafe Yasmine in 2018.

Projects continuing over the next year

Following a very stressful March, where we narrowly escaped being evicted from Katsikas camp, we will be staying in Greece for the foreseeable future.

We will also continue to supply LM Village and Doliana with pampers and sanitary pads.

Bucket list projects

We’d love to run another volunteer weekend, perhaps outside of the UK as well as in, following the success of our last meeting.

We’d also like to get involved in the ‘Walk the Refugee Route’ trek again in 2020, after last year’s fantastic walkers raised over £25,000.

We thoroughly enjoyed our US tour in 2018, and are always looking for ways to spread our message even further across the globe. We’d like to continue doing this, especially after being shortlisted for the Diverse Charity of the Year awards in 2018.

Finally, we are committed to helping those with the greatest needs internationally whenever we can, and always welcome your thoughts on, suggestions for, and support improving and expanding our services.

Who knows what the future has in store for us?

Thanks for reading!

Please contact us today at info@refugeesupporteu.com if you’d like to find out more about helping refugees in Cyprus and Greece.

Refugee Support

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