Syrian Winter Coat Appeal…
In early January a short article in the Shooting & Conservation Magazine about the BASC supporting the Winter Coats Appeal run by WWW.CountryCoats2Syria.org.uk caught Sue & Sam Drons attention.
Like most people they didn’t realise how cold it is in Winter in Syria and that the majority of the nine million displaced Syrians, many like us from rural communities, want nothing more than to return home and rebuild their lives and nation.
There are over six million refugees living in camps in Syria with a further three million sheltering in neighbouring countries and these people face the onslaught of a bitter Winter, many only in the clothes they escaped in.
The article coincided with TV news reports and pictures of refugee camps in Syria showing that there is a real need for warm clothing.
So,Sue & Sam set about organising a collection of Winter coats in Whitton and within a very short time the Parochial Church Council kindly gave permission for our church to be the collection point in addition to Cliff House, a leaflet was designed by Whitton web designer Kevin Webster and fliers were printed and delivered to every house in the Parish advising the 17th January collection date.
The plan was to collect perhaps a couple of large black plastic bags full of clothes….however there was a fantastic response which took everybody by surprise and twenty one big black plastic bags full of clothes were donated!
These were sorted and then delivered to a volunteer farm collection point near Nottingham on 25th January, added to hundreds of other bags for delivery to the Manchester sea container loading company and the first container was despatched by the end of January.
Friends were also informed of what we were doing in Whitton and Tony & Elaine Pearson of Barton Lions organised a collection and numerous big bags of Winter Clothes were delivered to Nottingham by Fran Fletcher of Winterton.
Take a look at the www.CountryCoats2Syria.org.uk and the video showing the first container being loaded along with other updates. An estimated eight thousand coats had been donated by the end of January with an informal target of ten thousand probably achieved.
Sue & Sam would like to thank everybody for their very generous support and donations and especially thank Kevin,the PCC,Tony & Elaine and Fran for their practical support which was really appreciated.
Please see the photographs showing the final bags being packed in Whitton and unloaded at the collection point.All involved are to be congratulated on doing our bit to help others.
