Lifestyle

Where do the donations go?

Apr 22, 2017

Have you ever wondered what happens to donations for charities? I know what happens to things that are given because I have now twice been to warehouses where bedding, clothing and food are stored and sorted. The first time was in 2015 when I went with friends taking my personal donations to a warehouse in Calais run by a charity Auberge des Migrants, and then we visited the Calais ‘jungle’ now raised to the ground and the refugees and migrants taken to different centres in the regions, the minors housed in Calais itself. The second time was a few weeks ago when I took more bedding, clothes and a few food items to the Charity, Care4Calais at the seaside town of Blériot Plage near Calais. This was before the last remaining refugee camp at Grande Synthe, near Dunkerque, caught on fire on the evening of Monday 10^th April ’17. Here’s the e-mail I received from Care4Calais regarding the incident:

‘Last night, the camp at Grande Synthe was destroyed by a terrible fire. Volunteers have been working tirelessly through the night to help local officials get most of the 1,500 refugees to three gymnasiums. For the moment they are warm and dry with access to showers and toilets. However, we do not yet know how the French Government plan to re-house these people. The local mayor has said that the camp will not be rebuilt.

We do know that less than 1,500 people were transferred. Some spent the night around the town or the port, and some seem to have vanished or run away.

Last night we provided three van loads of water and blankets, and today we will be taking ready to eat food parcels and more emergency supplies.

To replace what has been lost in the fire we need the following urgently: Food / Clothes / Blankets and sleeping bags / Emergency Blankets / Shoes and trainers / Backpacks’.

The Care4Calais charity.

When I went to the charity’s warehouse I spoke with Craig, the longest serving volunteer worker with the charity Care4Calais, the organiser, Clare, was in London for talks, and another organiser, Karen, was not there as she was at a meeting. I asked Craig how he came to be a volunteer at Care4Calais. He said he was from the north-east [of Britain] and back in 2015 he arranged through internet contact, that he and a group of people would collect and take supplies to the refugees in France. He said there were 19 of them, all independent volunteers and their convoy consisted of 6 vans. When they arrived at Calais at a prearranged site, they met up with some Syrian refugees from the camp near Dunkerque, at Grande Synthe. On the 7th January 2016, the Daily Mail had reported that refugees (including children) were living in worse conditions at Grande Synthe than at the Calais jungle. He said the refugees helped them with the distribution of the contents of their vans which contained hygiene kits, shoes and clothing. Craig said afterwards the Syrians left to return to their camp and he and the other volunteers went to a night in a hotel before heading back to the UK. Craig said it was that evening that it sunk in that whereas he was sleeping in a comfortable hotel, the refugees were sleeping in a muddy camp in tents and flimsy huts hardly protecting them from the cold winds and rain. That’s when he decided to do more. He worked in logistics, and when he could, he journeyed to Calais with supplies, staying there and helping over weekends. It was at Calais he met Clare, also an independent volunteer and after the jungle camp was erased and Claire started the charity, Care4Calais, back in Nov. 2015 he joined the team. Now being a permanent volunteer, he is housed at Volunteer House which 10provides accommodation for long-term volunteers. He says Karen has been there about ten months, at the moment they are too busy to reply to my questions regarding their stories. Incidentally, I read in the French-English language newspaper, The Connexion, that some of the young refugees at the St. Omer Centre have joined together to play cricket and have been supplied with a uniform and equipment by a French resident. I googled C.A.O. and here is what I found: The Reception and Orientation Centre (CAO) where 100% of the refugees have been granted asylum. January 13, 2017

Care4Calais’s report on what they have done with financial donations and donations of goods:

The day after the fire:

‘Today our amazing team of volunteers, after working ’til 4 am last night, were back in the warehouse at 8 am this morning to help people who had lost everything. We packed 300 food parcels, 300 emergency bags, loaded two vans with supplies and distributed them in two of the gymnasiums people were sitting in. We bought gallons of water, gave it out to thirsty people, and spent time chatting to many refugees, letting them know we are still here and we still care.

We met over 50 people at the train station and listened to their stories with respect and kindness; we gave them sleeping bags, clothes and food as well as information. We kept them safe from police by sitting on the grass outside the station with them.

We gave tens of people lifts to the small camps scattered across Nord du Calais, we bought train tickets and bus tickets for scared travellers. We reassured anxious people we would be here tomorrow and the next day and the days after that, as long as they needed us.

We bought hundreds of biscuits and bottles of water for tomorrow, sorted clothes by the tonne for the next few days, checked dozens of tents- just in case.

And we ran all our usual daily jobs in and around Calais – Care4Calais volunteers rock!’

So now you know how charity donations are used.