PLANS are underway to deliver donations to refugees in Europe.

Robert Butler, from Launceston, who works with charity Mobile Refugee Support, has updated the Post on the aid to be delivered to refugees in France over the next few months.

A van will be travelling to France in September, as well as in October and November to prepare for autumn and winter. Robert estimates that around 60% of all Mobile Refugee Support’s humanitarian aid and financial donations have come from the South West, supported by Faraday and Open Hearts Open Borders, Amanda Pennington at Wadebridge Cornish Refugee Aid Project, Shelly and Libby at One and All Aid, Launceston Refugee Support Group and many more individuals from Cornwall.

A retired vicar from the Launceston area, Ken Wakefield, paid for the hire of the van that was recently taken over to France to deliver aid, and the team have got a salvage at Boardmaster coming up in August.

There will be around 15 to 20 people on site saving tents, sleeping bags and other useful items for France. There are also a number of local people ready to wash sleeping bags and check tents, with the team liaising with homeless charity St Petrocs to see if they can help them as well.

Rob said: “It was quite amusing walking around Hurdon Way last year after Boardmasters and seeing lots of sleeping bags drying on people’s washing lines.”

Last Saturday, July 14, a 40-foot shipping container left Saltash for Lesvos, Greece, filled with humanitarian aid collected from Cornwall and Devon. It was sent to an organisation called Attika, which Open Hearts Open Borders supports, who then distributed the aid to the smaller NGOs operating on the island.

The container was organised by Open Hearts Open Borders with many local people giving up hours to sort through donations and box and weigh everything.

Rachael at DS Smith in Launceston recently gave 100 boxes to box up all the aid for Rob’s trip to France and the container to Greece. Rob added: “It was a really kind gesture. There’s good things happening locally.”

The Post featured a report about Rob’s recent trip to France in last week’s edition. One of the photographs provided incorrectly identified a charity worker as Rob. The charity worker was in fact called Charlie, who is the director of Mobile Refugee Support, and was pictured giving two badges with MRS (Mobile Refugee Support) printed on them to two refugee children.

Rob added: “That little boy (in the photo) is a little legend — such a kind boy. On Sunday I was doing something and I felt someone take my left hand, looked around and there he was with a beaming smile for me. I had a good cry on Tuesday night for all of those children.”