“Like so many others, I was deeply impacted by the footage of families fleeing war and walking across Europe in summer 2015. It shook me to my bones, those images of mothers spilling out of dinghies holding onto their babies, desperate people walking miles and miles in the rain. Choose Love – a grassroots charity started by a group of friends who wanted to do something proactive – was amongst a group of NGOs in Calais that worked tirelessly with the people living in camps, offering frontline assistance. I went to Calais under their auspices, writing a piece for the Evening Standard about was happening there. So many unaccompanied, traumatised kids living in tents, without basic sanitation, in a first world country. It was profoundly shocking.
Since then, Choose Love has gone from strength to strength, helping over one million displaced people worldwide. They created an online shop where you can help in a tangible, immediate way, funding essentials that will support people as they journey to safety – shoes and clothes, hot food, waterproof tents, sleeping bags and blankets, clean water. They also have location-specific bundles that you can buy for people trapped in Afghanistan (£120) and at the US-Mexico border (£220), plus a pandemic protection bundle (£70). However, the best thing I’ve bought from Choose Love is the mental health support (£25) and adult learning and vocational training (£20) because for me, it represents hope for people who have endured so much.” Find out more at Choose Love