Ref: PG/EMA

7th October 2015

Dear Father

Re: Refugee Crisis and Diocesan Response.

I would greatly appreciate the inclusion of the insert below in your weekly parish bulletin. It is hoped that by using the Facebook page we can gather the various responses parishes are making to support the Syrian Refugee crisis. This will undoubtedly take various forms and each parish, group and school will respond in their own way.

By way of a quick update to yourselves we have already received several offers of accommodation, offers by people to help with teaching English and some proposed fundraising events. Information has been shared about clothes collection points in Wirral and there are probably points in your local area which people would like to be informed about. Schools too are raising money through activities so please use the Facebook page to tell others.

Currently there is no clear strategy from the government, few local authorities have declared their position on how many of the 20,000 families spoken about by David Cameron can be accommodated by them.

In the Diocese we are about to form a Task Group which will meet initially to share information about what we can do, audit what we can realistically offer through organisation such as SVP and see how we can link with the local authority, other organisations and churches. Your local knowledge and connections could prove vital in piecing together the jigsaw so please do not hesitate to contact me directly if you have useful information to share. Thank you.

Kind regards

Mary Kilcoyne Director

Newsletter insert.

Shrewsbury Diocesan Refugee Response. Catholic Children’s Society has been named as the Diocesan point of contact. To enable information sharing, links to useful websites and opportunities for parishes and groups to inform / involve others in fundraising activities, collection points, offers of accommodation, volunteering time and skills, a Facebook page has been opened. In order to gain access please do the following: Connect to the website. cathchildsoc.org.uk, click on the Facebook icon (top right hand corner of home page) and scroll down

building supportive communities cathchildsoc.org.uk Ms Mary Kilcoyne Director and Safeguarding Lead Company Limited by Guarantee 1400367 • Registered Charity 509793 Registered Head Office: St Paul’s House, Farmfield Drive, Prenton, Wirral, CH43 7ZT • Tel 0151 652 1281 Fax 0151 652 5002 the page to click onto the Shrewsbury Diocese Logo and you are in. Or please enter the following URL: https://www.facebook.com/CathChildSociety