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Fife charities inundated with donations for Afghan refugees

Fife donations Afghan refugees
Refugees are fleeing the Taliban.

Fife charities have been inundated with donations as the region prepares to welcome Afghan refugees.

Hundreds of visitors donated thirty-five tonnes of goods to one small organisation in west Fife alone last week.

Fife donations Afghan refugees
Just some of the items donated to Acorn Aid in Crossgates.

And offers of support for those escaping the Taliban regime are still pouring in to other aid agencies across the kingdom.

Clothes for adults and children, toiletries, toys, nappies and other essentials are all being collected at drop-off points.

Meanwhile, an online Crowdfunder organised by Fife Voluntary Action (FVA) has raised more than £4,000 so far.

Afghan refugee families arrive at the Torrejón de Ardoz military base in Madrid.

Fife Council has already committed to welcoming Afghan refugees and FVA is co-ordinating collections on behalf of several charities.

Chief executive Kenny Murphy said: “Families are arriving with hardly any possessions, having fled for their lives.”

A hundred donations per night

Among those donating is Crossgates-based Acorn Aid (Scotland), which had no idea its appeal would take off so quickly.

They had a huge response from across Scotland, with one family driving from as far away as Aberdeen to donate.

Acorn Aid co-founder June Miller said they had planned to accept donations over five days last week.

Acorn Aid volunteers with some of the donations.

“We found our facilities were at capacity after only three evenings, with 100 visitors donating each night,” she said.

“We thought we might get one tonne of donations but by Wednesday we had exceeded 35 tonnes.”

Prams and buggies are among the donations.

Clothes, toys and several prams were dropped off at Trinity Church in Crossgates and the charity had to hire a 20-foot container to help transport everything.

June and husband Brian started Acorn in 2016 to take donations to Bosnia and now have 10 members.

Drop-off points

Fife Voluntary Action has also received hundreds of donations and continues to collect essentials.

And it has organised seven drop-off points in Kirkcaldy, Glenrothes, Colinsburgh, Ceres, Cupar and St Andrews.

Kenny Murphy said: “Fifers have a long and proud tradition of being welcoming and helping fellow citizens, no matter what crisis they face.

Kenny Murphy.

“Desperate families fleeing Afghanistan without their personal possessions will need a lot of support and we’re working together in Fife to do what we can.

“We particularly need baby clothes, children’s clothes, warmer adult clothes and toiletries.”

Further details on how to donate are on the FVA website.

‘Thank you to everyone’

Kirkcaldy, Kinghorn and Burntisland Conservative councillor Kathleen Leslie is appealing for donations of toiletries.

They can be dropped off at the Philp Hall, Kirkcaldy, on Wednesday and Thursday from 4.30pm, and all day at Kinghorn Community Centre.

Fife Council co-leaders David Alexander and David Ross said: “Our work continues with local and national partners to make sure Fife can help Afghan refugees as they arrive in the country.

“We want to thank everyone who’s expressed support and offered to help or donate things since we confirmed this work was under way.”