Bermondsey Welcomes Refugees is a community sponsorship group of volunteers who recently resettled their first refugee family into the Bermondsey and Rotherhithe area of London, as part of the UK Government's Community Sponsorship Scheme. The Scheme was established by the UK Government in 2016 at the height of the refugee crisis. It provides a safe and legal route for refugees to come to the UK.
The group was formed in September 2019 with an initial 4 volunteers, this has now increased to over 20 volunteers. We are a diverse and inclusive team with the majority living or working in the area.
Since our start-up in 2019, we have arranged numerous events to fundraise for our work and also to raise awareness of the Community Sponsorship scheme. We are looking to fundraise in excess of £12,000 to successfully meet our ambition of giving a new life to a refugee family. Our events have included movie screenings, cake sale, astronomy lecture and much more.
We have a core team of volunteers, split into groups to cover our areas of work: Home Office application, housing, fundraising and education to name a few. We will welcome the family when they arrive at the airport and support them for up to two years, helping them build a new and sustainable life in the UK and to ensure they become part of their new community. The support covers all aspects of everyday life including housing, employment, language skills, education, healthcare etc.
If you would like to keep up-to-date with our events, follow us on social media. If you can support our work, get in touch.
WHO WE WORK WITH
We work in partnership with:
Citizens UK, a community organising group in the UK, who help mobilise communities to act together for power, social justice and the common good. In particular we work with their Sponsor Refugees team.
RESET, the UK's Community Sponsorship training, support and advice provider. RESET prepare ordinary people across the UK to resettle refugees in their local areas by providing high quality training, workshops and resources. quality training, workshops and resources.
Each month we hold our general team meeting, over the past year this has been done virtually, but we are now starting to have face to face meetings when possible. We work in different sub teams, with each team meeting bi-monthly. The teams are structured to cover all areas of our work.
We are a team of over 20 volunteers, who have been collectively working towards resettling a refugee family into the area. We are a diverse and inclusive team, all striving to reach the same goal. We will continue to offer support to our family for up to two years after their arrival, to ensure they fully settle and feel welcome in their new community Here is a snapshot of our volunteers.
