We Did It!!!

One week on from the Christmas Challenge, we’re celebrating having raised a grand total of £20,092 towards our Integration Hub for refugees and asylum seekers in Derby.

Thanks to your amazing generosity, we will be able to continue running essential activities to help improve the emotional wellbeing of those seeking refuge in our city. English classes will help remove barriers to integration; baby showers will provide essential equipment and support for new mums; and community meals will allow friendships to be formed among those who are miles away from their own friends and family.

There’s much more that will be possible thanks to this money. Stories rewritten and lives changed, like Zehra’s (name changed):

When you first land in a country, in this situation, it is so hard … one week ago or one month ago you are a normal person, you have a job, you have everything that you may have. But, suddenly, everything goes upside-down.

But, Upbeat made a difference to my life … We feel comfortable here [now]. [Upbeat] is, like, one of the most comfortable places we can ever be, in the UK. Everybody is so welcoming. That makes us feel happy and forget, actually, our problems, what is happening… forget for some moment and feel normal. That is so important.

It’s not too late to support this work so we can keep giving refugees like Zehra the opportunity to feel normal in the midst of extreme difficulty. You can set up a monthly gift, or make a one-off donation, today at upbeatcommunities.org/donate. Thank you.