Chichester refugee charity fundraising to help Ukrainian refugees

Children on the Edge, with headquarters in East Street, worked for decades in Moldova and Romania between 1990-2012, where now tens of thousands of refugees have been crossing

the borders from Ukraine.

The charity is appealing for donations to support refugees arriving in the area.

Children on the Edge co-founder and CEO Rachel Bentley said: “Children on the Edge has a long history of working in eastern Europe, it’s where we began. I spoke with our contact in Moldova over the weekend, whose organisation is supporting the families that have already begun arriving in Chișinău.

"Whilst local people have been generously providing food and clothing, the pressing need at the moment is funding for fuel and electricity to provide heat and light in the centre where refugees are being hosted."

The ‘Speranta’ centre in Chișinău, Moldova - which means ‘hope’, is already hosting refugees as they transit through Moldova into neighbouring EU countries and to reunite with family.

The centre is providing clean beds for refugees to stay for a few days, along with hot water, food and supplies.

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Rachel Bentley added: “The main difficulty at the moment for our friends on the ground is cleaning and preparing the centre for new arrivals each day. As well as paying the bills to keep the building heated, they need to offer food to refugees staying in the centre.

"We’re appealing for donations to help with these costs, which are only expected to rise as more refugees arrive in Moldova.”

Countries across Europe have already begun to host some of the hundreds of thousands of refugees fleeing the Russian invasion in Ukraine.

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The UN estimates that around 500,000 refugees have left the country since the conflict began, a number that is set to increase as Russian forces continue in their attempts to overthrow the democratically elected government in Kyiv, and seize control of a number of Ukrainian cities.

The charity is also in touch with their Romanian contacts who are setting up accommodation facilities on the Romania/Ukraine border and inland in Romania.

They will soon be providing updates on how to support arriving Ukrainians in these areas.

If you would like to donate to the appeal, please visit their website.