UPDATE ON SITUATION IN CALAIS

UPDATE ON SITUATION IN CALAIS FROM HELP REFUGEES.ORG.PLEASE READ.

"You may have seen from our social media that the situation in Calais and Dunkirk is bad - police violence is increasing and the French authorities have tried to ban water and food distributions in the area. Unfortunately, the media have somewhat forgot about Calais, which has resulted in a certain level of donor fatigue. On the ground, the situation is worse than before; people are sleeping rough in the woods with little more than a sleeping bag to protect them from the weather. Each and every day we have more people asking for clothing than we can possibly supply and we are having to distribute new tents every week because the police are carrying out evictions in Calais and Dunkirk five times a week.

The need is continuing to rise and we are unable to distribute items on the scale we would like. As there is no water supply in the area, people cannot wash their clothing, meaning we must continually distribute clean items, not only to keep people warm and dry but also in the hope of preventing the spread of disease. As soon as the cold weather arrives back after summer, we will find ourselves getting through an increasingly large number of blankets and warm men’s clothing meaning we will immediately need more donations.

We have always relied on UK groups like yourself to act as local drop-off points and facilitate deliveries of much needed aid to our warehouse in Calais. The need in Calais is increasing every day while more and more people are displaced from smaller camps in Pas-de-Calais"