Liverpool Social Work students to lead aid convoy to Calais

A team of more than twenty Liverpool Hope University Social Work students and their lecturers are to collect and deliver vital supplies to refugees in Calais.

The students are organising a convoy of ten cars and vans full of clothes, toiletries, food and other supplies, which will travel to the refugee camps in Calais on 17 October.

They are being joined in their efforts by fellow Social Work students from the Universities of Chester and Liverpool John Moores, and members of SWAN (Social Work Action Network). They will then join up with other SWAN convoys from around the UK.

The students launched their campaign at the Liverpool Hope Freshers’ Fair, where they set up a stall and a tent to help give some idea of the conditions refugees have to live in.

As well as collecting supplies, the students from Liverpool Hope are raising funds to pay for the journey, which will cost around £300 per car.

Dr Joe Greener, Lecturer in Social Work at Liverpool Hope, says: “We are really proud to announce that our students have mobilised themselves to take action for the refugees at Calais.”

“They are organising a campaign to send desperately needed goods to the border camps and raise money for the NGOs working there. It is exhilarating to see students decide to take direct steps which could make a real difference to people who are desperately seeking a sanctuary.”

You can support the campaign by visiting the Just Giving page or by dropping off donations, clothes and supplies at the university campus by arrangement.

The students will also be holding a Convoy to Calais fundraising night at the university’s Hope Park Campus on Thursday 8th October.