Being Helped and Helping Others

“For me the phone top up is really important because it enables me to communicate with people around me. I buy bundles which give me minutes and data. It means I can speak with JRS, for help with getting medical care, with my family and friends who live nearby. When someone I know is having a difficult time, I can call and help, and they do the same for me.”

The words of a refugee friends to one of our destitution team when they were chatting about the importance of the mobile phone top-ups.

During the COVID pandemic, when our face-to-face services were forced to close, mobile phones became central to the way we accompany refugee friends. We are now providing some face-to-face appointments and support again, but the importance of phones, and the availability of data and call credit, remains critical.

Each month we top-up around 321 refugee friends phones with £10 of essential call and data credit.

Phones enable refugee friends to connect with JRS’ services. They provide support for critical basic needs; offer an ear to listen; access to expert legal advice; and activities to share skills and foster the experience of joy

This Advent please consider a donation so that destitute refugees get the help and support they need, and are able to offer help and support to others.

Donate today

Hospitality and Welcome

As we gradually re-open to offer face-to-face support, the first thing we knew we needed to do was renew that hospitality and welcome synonymous with JRS that sometimes Zoom alone cannot provide!

Refugee friends can book an appointment to come to our new welcoming JRS Shop each month -sometimes refugee friends call JRS to book and other times JRS volunteers call to invite refugee friends to visit the Shop.

Refugee friends are free to choose what they need and want from the array of nutritious cupboard staples, fresh produce, baby supplies and full-sized toiletries on offer, which JRS procures through a combination of physical donations and direct purchases.

Refugee friends are welcome to stay to have a cup of tea and a chat with each other, charge-up their mobile phone, and receive support form our welcoming volunteers and staff. The JRS shop offers community, connection, and pratical support.

Please donate today to show hospitality and welcome to destitute refugees.

Donate today

Waiting and Dreaming

Many of the 350 refugee friends registered with JRS UK at any given time experience years if not decades of waiting for their leave to remain. That wait is characterised by unsuitable, insecure accommodation and even homelessness as well as a lack of necessities, including nutritious food and adequate clothing.

These inhumane conditions often lead to the development and/or exacerbation of physical and mental health problems.  And while the pandemic has eased somewhat since last Advent, many of our refugee friends are dreading the coming winter, which they fear will bring more isolation and anxiety.

And yet, with the support of JRS UK’s range of services, including food, toiletries and clothes from the JRS Shop, phone credit and hardship grants, expert advice from the destitution, legal and detention staff, our refugee friends can lead more secure and comfortable daily lives.

And, through a variety of activities such as drama, poetry writing, and creative arts, refugee friends can develop their artistic and creative sides and begin to dream about their future aspirations.

While some of these activities are gradually being reintroduced in-person, others are still being conducted online, which for many of our refugee friends requires significant phone data.

Your donation today will not only ensure that our refugee friends lead more secure and comfortable daily lives but have the mental and emotional space to dream about a hopeful future for themselves and their families.

Please donate today to support refugees dream whilst they wait.

Donate today

Ways you can give this Advent

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The easiest way to give to our Advent Appeal is online. There are other ways you can donate to our Avent Appeal too…

By Post

Please make cheques payable to “Jesuit Refugee Service” and send to:

Jesuit Refugee Service UK
The Hurtado Jesuit Centre,
2 Chandler Street
London
E1W 2QT

Donate urgently needed items

We are always looking for physical donations of much needed items to support our services for refugees – can you help?

Visit our current needs page to find out more

Give as you Live

You can help raise money for JRS anytime you shop on-line through Give As You Live. Over 3,000 on-line retailers will give a donation to us as a charity every time you make a purchase. This income provides resources for setting up smaller projects that we cannot get grants for.

Jesuit Refugee Service UK
The Hurtado Jesuit Centre
2 Chandler Street, London E1W 2QT

020 7488 7310
uk@jrs.net

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