Please help provide a warm welcome and hot food for refugee friends
£40 would provide a refugee friend with a monthly grant for bus travel
£100 would help provide 20 packs of toiletries each month.
£191 would feed 120 refugee friends at our Day Centre.
This Lent, we are urgently asking you to donate to JRS UK to help provide the ongoing needs of the Day Centre.
The Day Centre is open each Thursday to accompany more than 200 refugee friends each month. Providing small cash travel grants for bus passes, toiletries, a hot meal prepared by volunteers, and a place to relax, its purpose is to provide a safe and comfortable place.
A safe and comfortable space is rare for many of our friends whose accommodation often changes and is unpredictable. Our staff and volunteers are available to chat with our friends at the Day Centre, providing support and advice on a range of issues which can arise from a life made destitute by the asylum system.
''There is a need to appeal to men and women of good will to share, by almsgiving, their goods with those most in need, as a means of personally participating in the building of a better world.''
Pope Francis
“I was very satisfied that JRS gave me a travel grant…at least if it’s raining, I can sit in the bus…if no place is available in the night I can sleep in the bus…it was the biggest help I received from JRS.”
–Akbar
Most days, our friends are being forced to prove themselves over and over as to why they have claimed asylum. In trying to convince Home Office officials, find housing, find legal support and be treated equally in a new country, our friends often have to relive traumatic experiences. JRS UK is somewhere our refugee friends belong, where they can simply be, seek support if they would like to, and feel loved.
Throughout the week, arts, drama and cooking groups offer classes and opportunities to learn a skill, express themselves and feel empowered during a difficult and overwhelming period. The Day Centre runs a host of activities to ensure our refugee friends can explore their skills, make connections with others, receive the advice and support they need, and above all, are being welcomed with love.
It’s not just financial it’s emotional and psychological help is [what] I get from JRS. It’s like a family.”
–Akbar
With your help today, people like Akbar can rely on JRS UK for support when they are met with hostility.
JRS UK offers intervention and responds to practical needs, but also create spaces of hospitality, community, friendship and participation, which enable refugees to heal and shape their own future. Giving priority to situations of great need, JRS UK want to make sure the needs that others are not attending to, are met.
“Most important thing is [the] atmosphere [at JRS] – it is welcoming and supportive and always hope and [the] housing scheme. I think personally, without JRS I could have developed so many psychological problems if we do not receive any help.”
–Akbar
Without your help, activities at the Day centre are impossible to continue.
Please donate today to ensure JRS UK can continue to accompany, serve and advocate for our refugee friends through the Day Centre.
Online
You can donate online by clicking here.
By Post
Please make cheques payable to “Jesuit Refugee Service” and send to:
JRS UK, The Hurtado Jesuit Centre, 2 Chandler Street, London, E1W 2QT
Gift Aid it!
If you Gift Aid your donations we can claim back from the government 25p for every £1 you donate to JRS UK. This additional income really does make a big difference, so please don’t forget to Gift Aid your donations if you are a UK tax payer.
Regular Giving
You can set up a regular donation online through the buttons above, or if you prefer to send the form by post
Download our regular giving form here
Through your Parish or Community
You can organise a collection for JRS UK and send the money to us on behalf of your group. If you would like help or support, please contact us
*Akbar’s real name has been replaced to protect is identity.