Haslemere’s Gift Of Hope – a small ray of happiness to the refugee children of Kos

We are all aware of the terrible effects of Syria’s civil war which has now escalated to the point that it is the worst humanitarian disaster of our time. The suffering endured has become so great that entire families are making vast and dangerous journeys in the hope of reaching safety. According to the UN, the number of innocent civilians displaced so far is more than 11 million and more than half of all Syrian refugees are under the age of 18.

People across the country and indeed the world, cannot fail to be moved by the heart-breaking images and stories that are appearing in the media on a daily basis. Two local mums from Haslemere have decided to try and take action to help. They have set up an initiative called Haslemere’s Gift of Hope which asks volunteers to donate bags containing essentials for babies and children including good quality second hand and new warm clothes, shoes / boots, gloves, books and toys, as well as toothbrushes and toothpaste. These will be delivered to the refugee children in Kos via approved channels to ensure they reach those in need. It is recognised that these gifts are not providing them with life essentials, but rather they are designed to give them a “small ray of happiness”.

Here at Mzuri Design we also want to do our part to help and we have therefore offered to be a collection point for the Bags of Hope initiative. If you too would like to help, all you need to do is donate part or all of a Bag of Hope (or money to help with the logistics of sending the parcels). So feel free to pop into our office with your donation. We are at:

3a Headley Road, Liphook, GU30 7NS.

To help you put together your bag, here are some example contents:

(Some necessary exclusions: no sharp objects, toys requiring batteries or liquids please).

Please remember to put into a bag with a label providing age / gender information so that the bags can be distributed appropriately.

We ask that all donations be kindly donated to us by Thurs 24th September at 5.30pm.

The campaign is also calling for monetary donations to help with the shipping logistics. For more information on how you can help and important updates on the campaign, visit the Haslemere Gift of Hope Facebook page and funding page.

Thank you.