Tesco Donates 18 Crates of Food to ‘Wrexham to Calais’ Solidarity Campaign

A Wrexham supermarket has donated eighteen crates of food to a local cause aiming to show solidarity with refugees in Calais.

Tesco in Cefn Mawr has donated the food to ‘The Wrexham to Calais Solidarity’ campaign, which was launched in on Facebook last week as a response to the tragic images of the children who drowned trying to flee Syria and also some comments made online regarding the situation.

Launched by 27-year-old Glyndwr student, Kate Wilkinson the campaign, has snowballed beyond belief and raised £240 in a matter of days through an online crowdfunding site  to help pay for a van and fuel. Any surplus raised will purchase more goods for the refugees living in appalling conditions in Calais.

Since the campaign launched over 780 people have joined the Facebook page, with people donating food, clothes, children’s toys and blankets to support the cause.

Katie said: “Donations have been flooding in from all sorts of people and places – just today we had £160 donated through a bake sale. It really is overwhelming and I’d like to thank the people of Wrexham for their generosity. Because of the amount of goods and donations coming in the Wrexham Solidarity campaign has decided to give some of it to local refugee charities as well as the Ty Nôs homeless shelter.

“If people want to donate they can still do so through Splash Magic leisure centre in Plas Madoc, Glyndwr University Students’ Union, Plas Pentwyn Resource Centre in Coedpoeth or Saith Seren in Chester Street, Wrexham. We have a Facebook page with more than 700 members and the offers of help keep rolling in. It’s very humbling to think this all grew out of a simple request to fill up my Micra to take supplies to refugees and migrants.”

Katie and others will be travelling to Calais on September 19th so there’s plenty of time to make your donations, large or small.

She added: “The trip will see a team from Wrexham take essentials for the camp and volunteer in Calais for at least a week and then continue to collect and organise donations for ongoing support of refugees across Europe, working with other groups across North Wales and North-west England.”

To get involved with ‘The Wrexham to Calais Solidarity’ campaign or find out how you can get involved, more information can be found on their Facebook Page here.

*Picture – Wrexham to Calais Facebook Page