Get involved
Transforming the lives of refugees will require a team effort. We need all kinds of organisations and individuals in Elmbridge to make it happen – from businesses and schools, to charities and churches. There are lots of ways you can get involved in our work, from sponsoring a family to volunteering with Elmbridge CAN.
Since the August Afghan crisis and now the Ukrainian, so many people have got in touch with kind offers of help so a big thank you. As you may or may not know, there were approximately 200 Afghan refugees including approximately 120 children arrived in a bridging hotel in Elmbridge that are still there 7 months in, and now the Ukrainian crisis is expecting a whole influx of Ukrainians, ideally hosted by Elmbridge residents or landlords prepared to rent out their self contained dwellings. So as you can imagine, the workload for our core team has gone through the roof, as we are trying to support Elmbridge Borough Council who are leading on this, to the best of our abilities.
By far the best way to keep up to date with our needs is to sign up for our newsletter and follow us on facebook so please do this if you haven't already.
Since the August Afghan crisis and now the Ukrainian, so many people have got in touch with kind offers of help so a big thank you. As you may or may not know, there were approximately 200 Afghan refugees including approximately 120 children arrived in a bridging hotel in Elmbridge that are still there 7 months in, and now the Ukrainian crisis is expecting a whole influx of Ukrainians, ideally hosted by Elmbridge residents or landlords prepared to rent out their self contained dwellings. So as you can imagine, the workload for our core team has gone through the roof, as we are trying to support Elmbridge Borough Council who are leading on this, to the best of our abilities.
By far the best way to keep up to date with our needs is to sign up for our newsletter and follow us on facebook so please do this if you haven't already.
PAID VACANCY - Ukrainian Refugee Integration worker - Deadline for applications May 16th
A chance to join our friendly, fast growing and dynamic team in one of very few paid roles. For more information please read job description here. |
UPDATED April 4th 2022
Top 5 ways you can help, in order of priority
1. Rental Property or hosting - we urgently need rental property, and if you are considering hosting yourself, there's lots of useful info out there. see Let Your Property page and share it within your networks, or even popping into local estate agents.
2. Volunteering We are very keen to fill specific current vacancies, to prepare for Ukrainian arrivals and supporting the Afghan bridging hotel, as well as our existing resident families we are supporting, so please find out more here in the volunteer section If you are just expressing interest for general occasional volunteering outside of these specific vacancies, please bear with us because applications need to be vetted and it takes time to process when there's a lot of high priority other things going on, in our small team.
3. Financial donations - we are setting up a new small fund for Ukrainians, and can always do with more help to pay for things like the cost of moving bulky items, school uniforms, and broadband for new families so that they can keep in touch with distant friends and family, who they will no doubt be very worried about. Donate - Elmbridge CAN refugee volunteer support.
4. Material donations , our needs are limited to specific items because we don't have storage, but you can see our latest info here- Donate - Elmbridge CAN refugee volunteer support.
5. Read up on issues relating to refugees - there is some great material here Take Action - Elmbridge CAN refugee volunteer support, but also on the pages of the larger charities, such as here Refugee & asylum facts - Refugee Council
- Ukraine crisis - Best links to read up on for help, please go to Get Support-
UPDATED April 4th 2022
Top 5 ways you can help, in order of priority
1. Rental Property or hosting - we urgently need rental property, and if you are considering hosting yourself, there's lots of useful info out there. see Let Your Property page and share it within your networks, or even popping into local estate agents.
2. Volunteering We are very keen to fill specific current vacancies, to prepare for Ukrainian arrivals and supporting the Afghan bridging hotel, as well as our existing resident families we are supporting, so please find out more here in the volunteer section If you are just expressing interest for general occasional volunteering outside of these specific vacancies, please bear with us because applications need to be vetted and it takes time to process when there's a lot of high priority other things going on, in our small team.
3. Financial donations - we are setting up a new small fund for Ukrainians, and can always do with more help to pay for things like the cost of moving bulky items, school uniforms, and broadband for new families so that they can keep in touch with distant friends and family, who they will no doubt be very worried about. Donate - Elmbridge CAN refugee volunteer support.
4. Material donations , our needs are limited to specific items because we don't have storage, but you can see our latest info here- Donate - Elmbridge CAN refugee volunteer support.
5. Read up on issues relating to refugees - there is some great material here Take Action - Elmbridge CAN refugee volunteer support, but also on the pages of the larger charities, such as here Refugee & asylum facts - Refugee Council
- Ukraine crisis - Best links to read up on for help, please go to Get Support-
Images: ElmbridgeCAN/ Jazzmany / Shutterstock.com