Asylum Welcome is a charity supporting refugees and asylum seekers across Oxfordshire, ensuring they are safe, feel welcome, and can live with dignity as valued members of our community. Most of those we assist have experienced profound anguish and trauma, which is compounded by ongoing financial hardship and the looming threat of homelessness.

Many of our clients are legally barred from working and receive minimal state support, often less than half the standard benefit rate. Some have no recourse to public funds, relying on our help to survive until more sustainable support becomes available, and they can go on to lead fulfilling, independent lives on their own two feet.

This winter, we are urgently appealing for support for our dwindling Hardship Fund, which provides direct assistance to people with the most pressing and essential needs. From food parcels, shoes, warm clothing, sanitary products, and funds for travel to crucial legal appointments, it ensures that vulnerable people have access to everyday necessities.

Recently, the fund supported nine expectant mothers living in hotels without cooking facilities, addressing concerns about malnutrition during their pregnancies. It also provided a potty for a mother to toilet train her toddler and a rain cover for her pushchair, as she had no recourse to public funds. Such support is absolutely crucial while we help our clients with the complicated casework necessary to regularise their status.

The Hardship Fund is a cornerstone of Asylum Welcome’s work, helping people to meet their most basic human needs. As the colder months approach, we are determined to do all we can to ensure that no refugee or asylum seeker is left to sleep rough this winter.

Please give what you can today. Your generosity will make a real difference to the safety and wellbeing of vulnerable people living in Oxfordshire in the coming months:

- £20 can provide a welcome pack of toys and toiletries for a mother and baby we have helped to house.

- £50 allows a family to buy school uniforms, shoes, and educational books for their children starting school in the UK.

- £100 covers two nights of safe sleep in a B&B for a vulnerable teenager, ensuring they don't have to sleep rough while we search for a secure long-term housing solution.

- £250 allows us to provide someone with food for two months while we support them to regularise their status in the UK.

Please stand with us today by supporting our emergency appeal, and help to ensure that no refugee in Oxfordshire is left to sleep rough in the cold this winter. Thank you.