NEWS

 Well done Lancaster Motorcycles for taking on this feat. Safe journey; your actions will make such a difference.
Thanks to all our supporters who donated aid. Some has already gone and more now on its way. It's great when organisations work together ❤ for the benefit of others less fortunate. 

 Thank you so much to Elaine and staff at Kirkby C of E primary school for arranging a collection of aid for the Ukrainian crisis.
We really appreciate your help and support. 

 Another very generous donation received today from Hillcroft Nursing Home, Morecambe.
All now sorted and packed and will very shortly start it's journey to those in need.
A big thank you to all at Hillcroft Morecambe. 

We now have a trusted contact to enable us to send aid to support refugees fleeing Ukraine. This group has already successfully taken very specific supplies to Ukraine and are now ready to receive aid in the form of clothing, toiletries etc.
Those seeking safety have, in many instances left home with a suitcase, but are oftèn, having to leave those at the railway station to enable more people to board the trains and reach safety.
We are confident that this group will be successful as they have close links with Ukraine and are using Ukrainian drivers.

We are seeking:
Warm clothing for men, women, children and babies, in particular-
Baby snowsuits
Jumpers
Jeans
Hats, scarves and gloves

Jackets and coats
Sturdy footwear
Blankets
Sanitary towels
Nappies all sizes
Soap
Shampoo
Roll on deodorant
Toothpaste and toothbrushes
Baby food and formula
New underwear and socks

Thermal cups and flasks

 Please contact us to make any donations.
This is another opportunity for us to express our gratitude for your support.

 Best wishes from The Ripple Effect team. 

 Would you like to sponsor a banana box for £3? If so contact us via messenger and we will give you the details. Your name etc will be placed on the box. The sponsored banana boxes in the photograph will be on the way to Northern France, on the truck, organised by Distribute aid. Thank you to everyone who has donated aid and or sponsored a banana box . It is Much appreciated. 

Over the last few weeks we have continued to collect and sort aid for Refugees. We have been in regular contact with Toula who is the founder of CESRTS (Chios Eastern Shore Response Team) and legal representative of Offene Arme on the island of Chios. We have sent over a number of pallets with specific items that were requested. We have had notification that these have now arrived in Chios for distribution.

We also sent over a pallet of aid to the Hope Project on the island of Lesvos in response to the terrible fire that engulfed the camp in Moria and left the refugees fleeing for their lives yet again and having to endure even worse living conditions than before.

We have been involved in the Choose Love Campaign. We agreed to be a drop off and pick up point for essential hygiene products to be sent over to Lesvos. It was a really successful weekend and we managed to fill 62 banana boxes with hygiene products, including nappies, shampoo, shower gel, toothpaste, deodorant etc. This has now been collected and is being shipped to Lesvos for distribution.

We have been in contact with an organisation called Distribute aid. They co-ordinate aid from smaller charities around the country to central points, were they can be placed into containers and sent to various destinations to help refugees. We have managed to complete 8 pallets and these will be distributed as follows:-

2 pallets to be transported Scotland, ( Highland support) to be put in a container – destination 

Toula (CESRTS), Chios Greece.

3 pallets to be transported to Perth, Scotland –destination, Attika distribution centre, Lesvos, Greece.

3 pallets to be transported to Pudsey in Leeds to be put into a container – destination - Calais, France

Thanks to everyone involved for your continued support. We really appreciate it.                     

 We have recently been able to send much needed aid to the Hope Project in Lesvos for Moria camp and CESRT ( Chios First Response team) in Chios. 

Thank you so much for our supporters in Lancaster/Morecambe/Overton and supporters in Liverpool

 including The Scouse Kitchen / L6 food bank and the SSS group (Share,Swap,Surplus). 

We really appreciate your help. ❤ 

In collaboration with Offene Arme we are delighted to be sending this pallet containing Moses baskets, children's summer clothes and abayas to CESRT on the Greek island of Chios. Offene Arme funded €1000 to enable us to purchase abayas from a great supplier in Manchester.
S J Bargh very kindly collected the pallet today, at short notice to deliver to Metafors/YasaTrans who will be loading it on their wagon tomorrow evening to start its journey to Chios. Had we missed this deadline it would have taken another week. We are so grateful to all who have helped us to meet this deadline. 💕

Thanks so much to the people who donated Moses baskets etc. We have been able to make up a pallet of aid that has been requested and will arrange to have it transported over to Greece as soon as possible.

 We have had aid donated by some Liverpool homeless charities who have had spare sleeping bags etc, so thanks to Scouse kitchen and the other guys on the Share/Swap/Surplus group.

We have recently been fortunate to have met a group of like-minded people; people who care passionately about the situation which refugees find themselves in, people who want to make a difference, people who understand that people don't flee their homeland out of choice, but out of necessity. That group is “Bentham Refugee Support”.
They have been donating items of clothing, sleeping bags and many of the items that we regularly send out to Chios over a period of time now.
Last Saturday, following weeks of planning they hosted an evening of music and prose, ”March Extravaganza”, a fundraising event with refugees in mind. We are honoured and extremely grateful that they chose to donate the proceeds of the evening to The Ripple Effect, in recognition of all that we do to support refugees. The amount they raised will make a big difference to our funds and enable us to send further consignments out to Greece.
Thank you to all the musicians and writers who contributed to make this, such an enjoyable evening. Thanks to all who were involved in the planning, baked cakes, served refreshments and a myriad of other things required for the event to be the success that it was and thank you to all who donated funds. You are all amazing people.
As we were enjoying the evening so much, we missed opportunities to take photos, but a list of those who performed is as follows:
Settle Voices
Wendy Dowbiggin
Katherine Beaumont
Lizzie and Jameela
Loose Connections
Ingleton Band
Howard Matthew
3 AMP