Dear Editor,
Let’s welcome refugees was the clear message on a stall in Stroud High Street last Saturday when two groups Together with Refugees Stroud District and Stroud Stands with Ukraine joined forces.
Volunteers from the two groups gave out leaflets encouraging people to offer temporary or longer term accommodation to help refugees in crisis.
The government is finally speeding up the granting of asylum to some people from conflict and war zones but only giving them seven days to leave hotels and find a place to stay, leaving many to become potentially homeless.
At the same time many Ukrainian families are still in desperate need of a safe place to stay.
During Saturday morning over 50 people visiting the High Street wrote messages of welcome to refugees on orange hearts which will be part of the Christmas Tree festival in St Lawrence’s church from December 1
The stall also displayed a map alongside a huge list of countries from which people have fled to Britain in the past eighty years and the many reasons why they had to flee.
A free webinar open to all entitled Reality for Refugees in Gloucestershire this winter will take place on December 5 at 7.30 giving the latest information on what is happening in the asylum system, its effects on refugees in Gloucestershire and ways the public can help such as temporarily hosting an evicted refugee, with the support of Refugees at Home .
Booking at http://reality-for-refugees-in-glos-2023.eventbrite.co.uk/
More info enquirysdtwr@googlegroups.com and team@stroudukraine.org.uk
Liz Whiteside
Together with Refugees Stroud District and Stroud Stands
with Ukraine
