Over the last few days, we have become aware of the plight of two families of Ukrainian Refugees and the amazing community effort by the residents of Fairford to arrange their safe passage to the UK and their imminent relocation in to our local community.

Joanna Shellard, whom I am sure many of you will know as one of your fellow residents, along with her family who live locally in Fairford have successfully secured the tenancy on an 8 bedroom ex B&B Farm house in Fairford which has generously been donated by the Ernest Cook Trust, rent free for 12 months, which is intended to house three
Ukrainian refugee families.  Whilst the house has essentially been provided as a good will gesture, the local community is now in urgent need of help to both furnish this property,  and to provide financial and
practical assistance to help support the families who will be arriving in to our neighbouring village for their first 12 months.  Time is somewhat of the essence as the first extended family of 6 had applications for their visas submitted earlier this week, of which 4 have come through and the second family of 6 had their applications submitted yesterday.

We come to you all today to ask whether our Lakes community could consider joining together with our friends in Fairford  and the surrounding communities to help support  these Ukrainian families who have essentially lost everything.  We would dearly love to be able to raise £60k which should be enough to support the  families upon their arrival in to our community and to take care of their basic living expenses for their first 12 months in the UK,  any excess funding will be used to help other refugees who are staying with other local families and to help provide support within our local schools for translators or additional teaching support.  To help kick start this campaign, John Hitchcox has pledged that YOO will match the first 20k of donations on a £ for £ basis.   Alongside our corporate promise of financial support, The Lakes will be further supporting this initiative by offering employment opportunities to any qualifying refugees for vacancies within our operations teams.

Any contribution that you feel able to make will make a significant difference to the lives of these families, and other families in similar situations who have been welcomed in to our community. 

Donating through JustGiving is simple, fast and totally secure. Your details are safe with JustGiving - they'll never sell them on or send unwanted emails. Once you donate, they'll send your money directly to the charity. So it's the most efficient way to donate - saving time and cutting costs for the charity.