Will you help us gather personal items for the Syrian Refugees who have come to County Clare?
The horrific and seemingly unending war in Syria has so far displaced more than 9.5 million people both inside Syria and across the Middle East and into Europe. More than two million Syrians are currently living in Refugee Camps in Lebanon for example. In an international agreement between EU countries Ireland agreed to settle a small number of the most vulnerable of these people in Ireland. By vulnerable they mean families with very young children, pregnant women etc.
As you may know 9 Syrian families have recently been resettled in County Clare as part of an EU wide agreement. These families will have a lot of adjustment to do to their new circumstances, they will have to learn a new language, new customs and will have to recover from what they have already endured, which includes losing loved ones, seeing their cities and homes destroyed and fleeing from religious persecution. Apart at all from the danger, trauma and difficulty that these young families have faced they have lost everything they owned. All of them have spent between two and four years living in the camps in Lebanon and as a result of this they have almost no personal possessions at all. We are certain that there are many people in Clare who would like to help with gathering some of the things that they need, and some that would make their new lives easier to adjust to and Clare PPN has decided to help organise this:
No human is illegal
Here are two ways you can help:
Donate Cash:
The first one is a donations page here where you can donate whatever amount you would like, even small amounts will add up quickly. https://www.gofundme.com/welcome-to-Clare
We will keep this page open for the next three weeks (from June 23rd 2016) and when that period has elapsed the money will be transferred to the Resettlement Workers who will use it to purchase the items still needed for the families.
Donate Items:
The second option is that if you have or want to purchase any of the items from the list below you can then donate them directly by emailing sarah@clareppn.ie who will arrange the handover.
*Please note that it is of the utmost importance that the items are of good quality, they can be new or second hand but only in perfect, safe, working condition.
Please note that if any Business/Sports Club/or Group would like to sponsor some of the items we would also be most delighted.
What they need:
- 9 child proof fire guards designed to fit around stoves
- At least 9 decent umbrellas
- Waterproof pants, jackets and wellingtons for children and adults.
- Some good quality gardening tools (forks, shovels, trowels – the families are dying to start planting vegetable gardens)
- Bicycles for adults and children down to the age of 7 (it will be a while before they have the resources for cars etc)
- Televisions – we need working Saorview-ready televisions for all 9 houses (to help with language learning and just in general)
- Working laptops for the younger people, hopefully ones with DVD playing capacity.
We will delete items from this list as we obtain them]
Please share this list widely and give a great Banner welcome to these families.