Their responsibilities begin with raising £9000 to cover essential expenses required in the first six weeks (food and clothing, interpreters, rent, heating, broadband etc.) before the benefits to which they are entitled as refugees kick in. The team will also secure affordable housing in the town for at least two years, find school places for the children and make sure the family is registered with the local GP and social services. They will organise regular English tuition for all the family and connect them with other services. And as they settle in, they support them to attend the local job centre, arrange local volunteering opportunities, helping guide them towards employment and self-sufficiency.
Speaking to us about their work, Greg from the team highlighted the importance of the Localgiving to their work: “Whilst we initially managed to generate some charity income through traditional sponsorship methods, it was only when our Localgiving page was set up that our fundraising took off. For a small, community charity group, with limited support networks, Localgiving provided us with an online presence and reach beyond our immediate contacts. We have been able to signpost directly to our Localgiving fundraiser projects from social media channels and, most effectively for us, we added a QR code to the printed version of our HRG leaflet, linking directly to the site.”
Help support them here, any funds not used for the family will be donated to the Afghan emergency appeal, there are minimal administrative groups and all donations go to resettling a family.