No-one leaves home unless home is the mouth of a shark – Warsan Shire (British-Somali Poet).
Who We Are
The Penryn and Falmouth Welcome Refugee Families group was formed in April 2018, inspired by a collective wish to help some of the people whose lives have been devastated by the ongoing civil war and conflict in Syria.
As a highly diverse group we are really well placed to help any families we bring to our home town integrate with our local community. Refugees resettled in this way have been shown to recover from trauma and learn English more quickly than through any other process. Community Sponsorship schemes nationally have universally reported huge benefits to their communities through the process of helping a family, including:
- Increased understanding of other cultures, especially important in rural and ethnically un-diverse areas.
- A greater sense of community through activities such as fundraising events and befriending groups.
- An opportunity for people who may otherwise experience social isolation and loneliness to become part of a caring community and help others.
Our group are aged from teenager to retired. We are from all walks of life including software engineers, teachers, social workers, accountants and artists. And we all share a single belief - we should share our good fortune to be living in Cornwall and safe.
A Home
We have recently been offered a lovely house, which would be perfect for a family, close to a full network of befrienders, amenities, shops and schools. However, we urgently need to raise the £9,000 required by the government to accompany our application to help a refugee family under the Community Sponsorship Scheme and to secure the home.
Lebanon hosts some 1.5 million refugees from Syria. The British government has a scheme to match a family from a camp such as this with a group such as out Welcome group.
Match Funding and Total Costs
Any money, up to £5,000, raised between now and August will also be matched by a benefactor. Unfortunately rents in this area are very high and even with a sympathetic landlord, we still need to subsidize the rent until our family is able to take it on themselves. We estimate our total costs will be £14,000.
We have raised just over £3,000 so far by holding a jumble sale and a concert. We have further events planned but now we need a big urgent push to raise the £9,000 to get the money before July when the lease of the house must start.
With your help we can bring a family who has suffered the loss of their home and near death struggles for survival a beautiful home surrounded by people who will help them integrate in their new home.
Charitable Status and Skills Available
We have just gained charitable status and have many wonderful volunteers, who bring many skills that will help a family settle here in Falmouth / Penryn. Bude have already welcomed two Syrian families and they are now advising us on the best way to tackle our momentous project.
Our Application to The Home Office
Once we have the money secured we will immediately submit our Community Support Scheme application to the Home Office. We expect our application to be accepted and acted on swiftly and hope to be welcoming a family as soon as August. Before that there is a lot of work being done to enable us to achieve this aim.