19 July 2016

Liberal Judaism has warmly welcomed a new Government website and initiative to support refugees – encouraging its communities and members to get involved.

The ‘Help Refugees in the UK’ site is being piloted in nine local authorities, including Lambeth, Nottingham City and the City of York. You can access it by clicking here.

It will enable local authorities to request the type of help they most need to support refugees in their area, ranging from baby clothes to homes. Members of the public who are able to assist can then offer their donation through the website.

It is part of a larger scheme, whereby community and faith groups will be able to sponsor Syrian refugee families who are being resettled in the UK.

Under the community sponsorship programme, charities and community interest companies will need to provide housing for the family they sponsor, as well as helping them to integrate into life in the UK.

For more details, please click here.

Rabbi Charley Baginsky, Liberal Judaism’s director of strategy and partnerships, said: “For some time now, Liberal Judaism and its constituent communities have been working hard to draw attention to the plight of refugees and their needs when coming to our country.

“We welcome this really practical website from the Government which allows us to join other communities across the country in offering help to those in need, epitomising our central value of welcoming the stranger.

“Three of the areas on which the trial focuses have thriving Liberal Jewish communities – Nottingham, York and South London – who I know will be at the forefront of helping to make this project a success.”

Charley added: “Members of Liberal Judaism, along with our friends at Citizens UK, are already doing many practical things – from collecting essential items for those in the refugee camp in Calais, to marching against racism to lobbying the Government to allow unaccompanied child refugees to join their families in the UK.

“While this scheme is a great step to ensuring that the UK can be a safe haven for those who need it, any action must be a partnership and we will therefore also keep exerting pressure on the Government to do more to help those in the world in the greatest need.”