With heavy hearts we send our love and condolences to the families of the people who lost their lives yesterday in horrendous conditions trying to reach our shores trying to reach a life of safety.
It’s barely 3 weeks since we gathered to remember refugees tragic drowning in the same channel and still no provision has been created to keep people safe.
These deaths are avoidable demand safe passage now!
Photo by Abdul Saboor
WE HAVE BIG NEWS… We are re-opening the kitchen in Northern France!
A small COVID-19 response team, including the co-founders, will re-open our kitchen in Calais, assess the need in the region and slowly rebuild our operations accordingly. We are busy planning how to adapt our practices so that we can safely and ethically serve the communities who need it most.
We will really need your help as we rebuild our stock and brave this new post-COVID world.
Please give what you can, share and engage with our social media posts and find creative ways to support Refugee Community Kitchen. This is a communal effort and we need each other now more than ever!
As always, thank you for your support, especially over the last few months, which have been challenging for all of us. We are incredibly grateful for the community of people that stand together with RCK.
Love, strength & good health to you all!
❤️🍽✊
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PS. Recurring donations truly keep us going so please don't forget to set up your recurring donation with our new donation page!
VOLUNTEERS
For health and safety reasons we can only have a small team at this point. We will let you know here when we can accept more volunteers in our kitchens. Thank you for your patience & support!
Our hearts are heavy with worry for the vulnerable people we have left behind in Northern France, who are now confronting one of the most precarious situations they have had to face on their long and difficult journeys.
There are a still a few local and international organisation on the ground doing the best they can to keep the people we serve safe, warm, fed & connected, while also tirelessly lobbying the French Government to take everyone to safety immediately.
AND we can now announce with huge relief that nearly every one of our amazing 35-strong crew of volunteers who had committed to stay as long as they possibly could, have made it home to their families. Most are self-isolating in some way or another, but all are safe and healthy today.
For now, the kitchen we all love is safely packed up but ready to be lit up at a day's notice.
In the mean time, you can sign up to our Newsletter to stay in touch and/or show interest in volunteering by clicking the links below.
Please support us with a donation if you can, this is a time to regather ourselves and come out stronger!
Big love,
RCK FAMILY
France has now closed it borders and is enacting strong measures to prevent the spread of COVID-19.
As of now, we are still permitted to provide food. We are taking every precaution possible in order to protect both our volunteers and the EXTREMELY vulnerable people who we serve.
The refugees living rough in Northern France have no access to running water, sanitation, electricity, shelter or security. The average amount of sleep is about THREE hours thanks to perpetual, violent evictions by the police. Immune systems and spirits are low after months of abuse and brutal winter weather. Our states CANNOT ignore the thousands of people living rough on our borders during this pandemic.
We must come together during these crazy times. Thankfully we have a core group of long-term volunteers who are committed to staying but funds and numbers are low and WE NEED YOUR HELP!
Please watch and share this video and DONATE what you can
Our love goes out to all of you and your families. Stay safe.
- Refugee Community Kitchen
After a few months of intense winter wind and rain, we are facing yet another storm, COVID-19.
Keeping our volunteers and the people we support, who have no shelter or sanitation, safe during this health crisis is our highest priority.
We are currently serving about 13,000 meals to hundreds of people a week. Volunteer numbers in the kitchen have drastically dropped and we foresee a huge struggle ahead to keep the food coming out. We really need your help as we come face-to-face with yet another crisis forcing us to dig deep for the vulnerable people we serve.
In the kitchen we are making changes to our operations on the ground to avoid spreading the virus to the vulnerable people we serve.
We recommend checking the Foreign Office Website guidelines on travelling to and from France over the coming weeks as this may also affect your travel insurance and our operations.
We are currently accepting international volunteers but please remember if you present any symptoms, have had contact with people who've been diagnosed, or plan to travel from an affected area, it is best to stay at home and consider making a donation instead of volunteering.
Please donate & volunteer with us if it is safe for you to do so.
Remember if you present any symptoms, have had contact with people who've been diagnosed, or plan to travel from an affected area, it is best to stay at home.
PS. Please email us if you'd like more details about how we are handling COVID-19.
We're shocked and saddened to see numbers surge during the coldest, most miserable time of the year.
We are serving about 1700 meals a day, with another 750 meals being served in Brussels each week.
Whatever shelter can be found is brutally ripped away multiple times a week and no support or sanitation has been provided for the hundreds of people, including at least 35 families, who are currently living rough in Calais and Dunkirk.
Please SPREAD THE WORD and DONATE so that we can continue serving hot meals to people who deserve to be safe, warm & respected!
Donate below ->
PS.
£5 = 10 meals,
£10 = 20 meals,
£100 = 200 sustaining meals!
Happy New Year to all our wonderful volunteers & supporters!
With your help we can be the change we want to see in the world, we can help others, make our tables longer & share all that we have.
Together we are stronger.
Let's all get up every day stronger in mind & spirit so we can lead our families, our neighbours and all of our fellow humans into a better world one act at a time.
Wishing you all the best in 2020
Refugee Community Kitchen
Once again, we've seen a inhumane and cruel eviction carried out in Calais. Heavily armed police forced refugees, including minors, onto buses with out any information or communication.
After providing no safe or warm spaces throughout the brutal winter, this week's eviction clearly has nothing to do with compassion or human rights.
Conditions are horrific and showing solidarity through this inhumane situation is immensely challenging.
Refugee Community Kitchen needs your help now more than ever so please spread the word, follow us on social media and donate what you can.
