How Britons reacted to 'refugees welcome' campaign

Thousands of people have donated to the growing grassroots campaign CalAid in response to the #refugeeswelcome movement

There has been an outpouring of emotion and social action since the image of Aylan Kurdi emerged last week. Activity continued over the weekend with thousands of Britons donating essential items and funding to the grassroots campaign, CalAid.

The focal point of their campaign was in Dalston, East London. James Fisher at CalAid told The Independent that on Sunday evening, there was six tonnes of donations in front of him; with 12 tonnes having already been transported into storage over the weekend.

Green Party leader Natalie Bennett participated at the drop-off point, donating shoes and moving boxes.

London saw several drop-off points erected from Uxbridge to Herne Hill; but it wasn’t the only city to participate.

Nationwide, thousands of people donated items to CalAid.

At the moment lunch queues can extend to more than 2,500 people, which represents a five hour wait. “People are condemned to a day of hunger” if they choose to queue for clothes instead.

CalAid intends to stop this. They reached their crowd funding target in just one day and they now plan to have 20 permanent volunteers on site in the Jungle Camp within six months.