Refugee Week: Organisations Supporting Refugees and Asylum Seekers in Lewisham
To mark Refugee Week 2023 (19th-25th June), we are showcasing some of the Lewisham-based organisations within our network doing amazing work to support refugees and asylum seekers. There is a variety of ways you can support these groups, through volunteering your time, donating money, gifting essential donations or attending events taking place this week.
Action For Refugees In Lewisham
AFRIL was founded in 2006 in order to support asylum seekers, vulnerable migrants and refugees in south east London. We work with our service users to ensure that we provide services that meet their real, complex needs. You can Donate to their latest fundraiser or Volunteer with AFRIL
GRACEaid
Supports those who have lost everything and are rebuilding their lives from scratch. A large storage facilities enables them to receive, store, sort and package aid, ready for distribution by others. This centralised approach creates a peer-to-peer hub for the many charities and grass-root groups we work with, both locally and abroad.
Volunteer or become a trustee with GRACEaid: Greenwich Refugee Aid & Community Enterprise: Home (graceaid.org.uk) or Donate
Lewisham Churches for Asylum Seekers
LewCAS is composed of representatives from churches of all denominations in the London Borough of Lewisham who share its aim of relieving poverty and advancing education amongst asylum seekers in South East London. They provide weekly food parcels to local families along with basic essentials. Everybody in the organisation serves in a voluntary capacity.
Find details of how to donate food or financial support here
Lewisham Donation Hub
A voluntary project set up in response to the Covid-19 pandemic. They collect and organise donations of all kinds, which are then share with those facing hardship.
Find what items (second hand or new) you can donate on their website or Facebook page. You can also volunteer with their project.
Lewisham Polish Centre
Since the start of the Ukrainian war, Lewisham Polish Centre in Forest Hill has been coordinating the organising and distributing donations to Ukraine to support those fleeing the country.
Follow their Facebook page to see what donations they are currently taking, or give to their online fundraiser: Lewisham Polish Centre General Donations – Support for the Centre – JustGiving
Lewisham Refugee Migrant Network
Empowers people and families who are destitute, homeless or have No Recourse to Public Funds (NRPF), from refugee, asylum seeker and migrant communities. LRMN advocates for people’s rights, campaigns for wider change, meets their basic needs and helps them improve their wellbeing.
Find out about the ways you can support their work here. They also campaign on a number of issues, including the campaign for Lewisham to become a Borough of Sanctuary.
Plateful Cafe – Lewisham Local
Plateful Cafe is a community organisation and cafe that employs local refugees in Lewisham within the food and hospitality sector. They are open to catering for events and are currently looking for volunteers. https://www.lewishamlocal.com/places/plateful-cafe/
Refugee Cafe
Formed in 2019 to bridge the divide between refugees, asylum seekers and the wider community. Refugee Cafe create delicious international food whilst providing training and employment opportunities to local refugees.
Lewisham Migration Museum
The Migration Museum, based in Lewisham Shopping Centre, explores how the movement of people to and from Britain across the ages has shaped who we are – as individuals, as communities, and as a nation. From their current home in the heart of Lewisham Shopping Centre, they stage engaging exhibitions and dynamic events, alongside a far-reaching education programme for primary, secondary, university and adult learners..
Check out what’s on including their special Migration Museum Psychedelight presents: Refugee Week Special – Migration Museum
Find more events taking place in Lewisham this week on Lewisham Council’s website: Lewisham Council – Refugee Week 2023
Did you know Lewisham is a certified Borough of Sanctuary?
Lewisham as a Borough of Sanctuary
The Lewisham Migration Forum is continuing to coordinate the collective effort behind Lewisham becoming a Borough of Sanctuary, welcoming those fleeing violence and persecution in their own countries and protecting the rights of all migrants, asylum-seekers and refugees.
Our aim is to get individuals and businesses in the borough to join us in enacting the principles of the Cities of Sanctuary movement. These are to:
- Offer a positive vision of a culture of welcome and hospitality to all
- Create opportunities for relationships of friendship and solidarity between local people and those seeking sanctuary
- Recognise and encourage partnership working and network development across localities
- Identify opportunities for practical action and work on common cause issues to effect change within and across communities (turning empathy into action)
- Celebrate and promote the welcome contribution of people seeking sanctuary
- Engage people seeking sanctuary in decision making processes at all levels and in all activities promote understanding of asylum and refugee issues, especially by enabling refugee voices to be heard directly
Pledge your support as an individual, business or local group in support of the campaign.
Find more community groups doing amazing work on our community directory
There are many more small groups and organisations supporting refugees and asylum seekers in Lewisham than we can list, including Downham Gleaning Pantry, Forest Hill and Sydenham Welcome Refugees, Kath’s Place, Lewisham Islamic Centre and Telegraph Hill Welcomes Refugees. Find more community groups doing amazing work on our community directory. If you know of other groups supporting refugees and asylum seekers that we’ve missed? Tell us! Email hello@lewishamlocal.com
Inspired and looking for more ways to give?
There is a network of projects providing food and basic essentials to those in need including refugees and asylum seekers in our local community. Find a project local to you here. Find more ways to get involved and stay connected with your local community by signing up to our newsletter . Find more volunteering roles on our volunteering page.