THANK YOU to all those individuals and groups who realised what a strain our services have been under the last few months and have been donating and running fundraising events for us! Boxgrove C of E Primary School ran a bake sale, Year 6 of Duncton Junior School ran a fundraiser and Fishbourne C of E Primary School are working with us on fundraising and donating books for refugee children when they arrive in the area. A group in Amberley ran a plant sale and several churches have held fundraising appeals for us. Sponsored runs by the Casey family raised over £10,000 between us and the charity Brake. Emma Payne and friends raised £1,300 between us and our partner Rural Refugee Network.

We’ve been receiving lots of individual donations too, including unsolicited ones from local foundations, and supporters have also been setting up much-needed ongoing monthly donations. We’re grateful for every penny.

Our partners Little Bundles and the Chichester area Rotary Clubs pulled out all the stops to help source items needed for new arrivals.

Finally, our new Volunteer Grants Fundraiser, Rosemary Harrison, has done a fantastic job of applying for grants and knocking our fundraising into shape to meet the huge increase in need.

This amazing collective community effort means that we can continue to help new arrivals and to support people to build their new lives here. The added security allows us to be more strategic in our planning and therefore more effective and sustainable. Every donor should feel really proud of being a part of that!

Thank you from all at Sanctuary in Chichester.