Your news: More vital aid supplies needed in Syria appeal

Campaigners are calling on generous Horsham residents to donate essential supplies to Syrian refugees.

They held a hugely successful collection and sorting session at St Leonard’s Church, Horsham, in November last year.

Organisers were bowled over by the generosity of the people who turned up to contribute supplies - they received so many donations that by 3pm they were having to turn people away through lack of space. Many people turned up to help sort the supplies, or to bring refreshments to the volunteers.

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Event organiser Cerian Sims Schaus said she had also taken part in a street collection in Crawley on December 26 and 27, which had been very successful.

Sussex Aid for Refugees, working with Anaya Aid UK, have now arranged another collection day, also at St Leonard’s Church, on Saturday February 4.

Cerian told the County Times: “Anaya Aid’s team on the ground in Syria have taken the responsibility of caring and providing for the tens of thousands of people recently evacuated from the city of Aleppo, this is on top of the thousands and thousands families they already provide for therefore, they desperately need our help to provide essential and life saving items.”

They will be collecting:

- Food items. They are requesting no glass containers, food should be halal and/or suitable for vegetarians

Collection day for Syria appeal contributionsCollection day for Syria appeal contributions
Collection day for Syria appeal contributions
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- Hygiene items - especially toothpaste, toothbrushes, soap, and face cloths, to be made into children’s hygiene packs

- Medical - Anaya Aid have a medical waiver which means they can accept all medical items, provided they are sealed and have at least six months remaining on their expiry date

- Baby essentials - milk/baby food (no glass jars or meat), nappies, wipes, creams, washes, blankets and sleeping bags, Moses baskets, and travel cots

- Shelter - blankets and sleeping bags, ready beds, blow up beds, yoga mats

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The charity’s warehouse is unable to take any more clothing at the moment though - many generous contributions from people across the South East have left them short of space.

Cerian is also taking part in a highly unusual world record attempt:

“On a side note,” she said. “I have recently taught myself to crochet in order to help support a world record attempt by sixty million trebles and will collecting blankets for them on the day too.”

The idea is to create the world’s largest crochet blanket - the target figure of 60 million trebles reflects the UN’s estimate that by the end of 2015 there were 60 million refugees worldwide.

Collection day for Syria appeal contributionsCollection day for Syria appeal contributions
Collection day for Syria appeal contributions
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The blanket will be used to create a ‘yarn bomb’ - a piece of street art using cloth to decorate a public space - in London.

Afterwards, the squares will be taken apart. Half of the blankets will be contributed to UK charities, while the rest will go to Hand in Hand For Syria.

Each section which makes up the blanket will be 36 inches square, but can be any pattern or any yarn weight. It will take 8,050 such squares to reach the target of 60 million trebles.

For more information on the world record attempt, visit: www.facebook.com/groups/sixtymilliontrebles/

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The collection and sorting day will be held from 11am to 4pm on February 4, in St Leonard’s Church, Cambridge Road, Horsham.

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