RAY CEO attends Royal Garden Party!

Carrie Wheater, RAY’s first paid employee and current CEO, was invited to the Royal Garden Party at Buckingham Palace in May, just in time to celebrate 15 years of employment with RAY, to recognise the work she an the rest of the staff and volunteers do to support refugees, asylum seekers and migrants in York.

“It was a wonderful afternoon, and the Palace gardens are beautiful. It is fantastic to have the dedication and hard work of all our staff, volunteers and trustees recognised, and I was honoured to be there representing RAY,” said Carrie after the event.

RAY Volunteer Wins National Award

We send our congratulations to Richard Holmes, one of our coffee morning volunteers, who developed Global Anthem, a set of gesture flashcards to assist refugees in communicating their basic needs related to food, health and welfare, for his final year project at York St John University , earning him the Ingenuity Programme’s Impact Entrepreneur of the Year award along with the Shakespeare Marineau Legal Prize, the Engineers in Business Prize and the Yorkshire and Humber Regional Champion award. For more information about Richard and Global Anthem, see this article by York St John University.

Collections for New Arrivals

UPDATE - 7.12.22

There have been so many generous donations of clothing that the immediate priority is to sort them, therefore the Donation Points will be closed until the new year to allow volunteers time for this.

Thank you for all your support, and please do check back here in January for confirmation of Donation Points and opening times.

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In December, a large group of people of all ages who are seeking asylum in the UK will arrive in York. We are calling on the people of York, who have proved themselves to be so generous and kind in the past, to get involved as they are able and donate any items from the list below to the following locations:

Mondays

10am-12pm St Barnabas Church, Jubilee Terrace YO26 4YT

12pm-4pm Clifton Parish Church (St Philip and St James’ Church) Clifton, YO30 6BH

Thursdays

10am-12pm St Paul’s Church, Holgate Road, YO24 4BF

Fridays

12pm-2pm Clifton Parish Church (St Philip and St James’ Church) Clifton, YO30 6BH

Sundays

2pm-4:30pm Holy Trinity Heworth Church, East Parade, YO31 0RP

Items needed:

New: Underwear - men’s sizes small and medium most needed, women’s sizes small and medium most needed, children and teens all sizes

New: Socks - men’s, women’s, children’s, and teen’s all sizes

Second hand clothing should be washed and good quality. All sizes are needed for children and teens. For men and women, sizes small and medium are most needed. Please be mindful of any slogans printed on garments and whether they are appopriate.

T-shirts (for women these should be high neck/modest)

Leggings, jeans, trousers, long skirts

Warm jumpers and hoodies

Trainers and shoes (waterproof)

Warm, waterproof coats

Hats, scarves, gloves

Women’s handbags and purses for everyday use

Umbrellas

New hairbrushes and combs

Feminine hygiene products

For children and teens:

Pencils and pens, with pencil case

Colouring pens

Notebooks and colouring books

Toys (washed if not new)

Puzzles and simple games (not with complex instructions in English)

Support for Ukraine

You will no doubt be really saddened to see what is happening in Ukraine at the moment.  Please see RAY’s press release that was sent out earlier this week, and also some links to ways in which you can help and support people fleeing Ukraine to seek refuge.

 PRESS RELEASE - Refugee Action York (RAY) on 28 February 2022

 At Refugee Action York (RAY) we're deeply saddened and concerned to see the escalating conflict in Ukraine in the past few days, and the resulting dramatic increase in people seeking refuge being forced to seek refuge from the conflict. While RAY has supported those fleeing conflict and persecution abroad consistently since we've been active, a conflict so close to home is understandably frightening, and so hard to watch on our TV screens, for all of us.

 The United Nations estimates that half a million people have crossed the Ukrainian border into neighbouring countries seeking refuge, with many more expected in the coming days. However, events are uncertain and moving quickly. Further, as with any conflict, the vast majority of those fleeing will seek refuge in neighbouring countries - in this case Poland, Hungary and Romania. The ability of these countries to support everyone in need will be limited. Currently the majority of those fleeing the conflict are women and children. The UK Government's response at present is to welcome family members of UK residents who are seeking refuge. We urge the government to ensure we welcome all those fleeing conflict and persecution in Ukraine who arrive to safety in the UK, as well as providing humanitarian support to the border areas.

 RAY is here to support anyone seeking refuge or asylum who comes to the York area. We know that York is an extraordinarily welcoming and charitable city and, as such, people will want to know how we can help those currently fleeing the conflict. As it stands, the urgent need is at the Ukrainian border and we urge anyone who wants to help, and has the resources, to donate to appeals by recognisable, registered charities involved with humanitarian support there. If you'd like to understand more about our work and how you can support us, please get in touch with us at www.refugeeactionyork.org.uk.

 Tom Adamski, Chair of the Board of Trustees at RAY

How can we help?

York St John’s University are organising a collection of required items under the guidance of the Ukrainian Embassy. More details can be found here. 

Please also see information from the British Red Cross about the need for financial donations here

An appeal is being launched by the UK's Disasters Emergency Committee to help the hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians fleeing the conflict.

Fifteen UK aid agencies - including the British Red Cross, Oxfam and Save the Children - are joining together to ask the public to donate.

All public donations will be doubled by the UK government, up to a total of £20m.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-60579727

And there is a lot of information about other ways you may be able to help on the Refugee Action website: How to help: Ukraine crisis - Refugee Action

York Stands with Ukraine in Show of Solidarity this Saturday 5th March

The scenes unfolding on the streets of Ukraine have been devastating to see, and the stories shared by Ukrainian civilians who have been forced to flee their homes, heartbreaking. We must take a stand, by standing with the people of Ukraine as a powerful act of solidarity. The MP for York Central is calling on the people of York to come together and show their support while calling for this war to end.

Rachael Maskell, the MP for York Central, is encouraging people to gather in St Helen's Square, in York City Centre, this Saturday at 2.30pm, to show their support and stand in solidarity with the people of Ukraine. Speakers at the event will include the MPs for York Central and York Outer, Human Rights City, City of Sanctuary, alongside other leaders, groups, and people from across York to be announced once confirmed. 

Rachael Maskell MP said:
"It is so important that we come together now as a City. In watching the atrocities unfold, we can feel so helpless, but when we come together, stand together and send our solidarity to the people of Ukraine together, we too play our part in calling for this war to end and justice for the Ukrainian people.

“As a Human Rights City and a City of Sanctuary, let us show how ‘York stands with Ukraine’.”  

Julian Sturdy MP said:

"The world has been united in condemnation at Russia's unprovoked aggression, in awe at the incredible acts of bravery by Ukrainian's defending their homeland, and in sympathy with those fleeing their homes.

My inbox has been filled with heartfelt messages from residents who want to do more to show solidarity and help our Ukrainian neighbours. Saturday will be a chance for York to come together to show that our city will stand shoulder to shoulder and not relent in our unwavering support for Ukraine.

We must not let evil triumph"

York Stands with Ukraine 
St Helen's Square, York 
5th March 2022 
2:30pm 
#YorkStandsWithUkraine  

Art Exhibition of paintings and drawings by asylum seekers in York - hosted online by Haxby and Wigginton Methodist Church

Since March 2020 RAY has been unable to run any of our usual services. Instead, all our support has had to change to being virtual. At the same time, because of a shortage of Initial Asylum Accommodation caused by the pandemic, the Home Office began to house Asylum Seekers in hotels across the UK.

One of these hotels is in York, and RAY began to support the Asylum Seekers living there by collecting donations of clothing, shoes, used mobile phones, and other items to distribute. RAY visits the hotel to give out these donations, offers help with understanding Asylum paperwork, a telephone befriending service, and provides English classes in the hotel in partnership with York Learning.

Through our visits, RAY learned that a number of the Asylum Seekers in the York hotel are talented artists, and we wanted to give them an opportunity to showcase some of their work. We also hoped to use one of their artworks as the basis for our RAY Christmas card this year, so we gave them an optional theme of “Winter” for their exhibition.

We’re delighted that Haxby and Wigginton Methodist Church are hosting an online exhibition of some of these artworks. You can view the exhibition here:
https://www.hwmc.org.uk/post/art-exhibition-from-ray

Some of these artworks will also be available very soon in the form of a calendar for 2021, and Christmas Cards - keep an eye on our website and Facebook https://www.facebook.com/RefugeeActionYork for more information!