Across the UK, independent shops, cafes, churches, gyms and businesses have opened their doors as collection points for families hit by disaster — each one run by people who simply wanted to help.
Every centre collects, holds and helps prepare aid items before they're shipped on to where they're needed. Whatever comes through any of them — right down to individual boxes of aid — is logged and tracked through the same system, so every donation can be accounted for from the moment it's dropped off to the moment it reaches the people who need it.
None of it would be possible without the volunteers behind it. Up and down the country, people have given up evenings and weekends to sort donations, pack boxes and keep centres running — simply because they wanted to help. The dedication and warmth we've seen from communities everywhere is what's made this whole effort possible.
New centres join us regularly as the response grows. Here's who's part of the network right now.
Manchester
Hove
Brighton
Bristol
Leeds
London
Bristol
Cambridge
Bournemouth
Weybridge
London
London
This list grows as more businesses, community spaces and organisations across the UK offer to host a collection point. Every new centre goes through the same simple process, and every item collected there is recorded the same way — so the network can keep growing without losing track of a single donation.
Alongside our established centres, we're also supported by a number of individual Community Collectors — people who've stepped up in their own neighbourhoods to gather donations and pass them into our network, often starting with little more than a spare room or a car boot.
We don't publish personal details for Community Collectors here, but their contribution is logged and tracked just like every other donation, and it's a real and growing part of this effort.
A glimpse of the effort going on at collection points across the country — volunteers sorting, packing and preparing aid for its journey to families in need.
Short clips from collection points around the country.
A look inside one of our collection points.
Volunteers sorting and packing donations.
Preparing aid for its journey overseas.
A busy day at one of our centres.
Behind the scenes of the collection effort.
The team hard at work.
Getting boxes ready for shipment.
A glimpse of the effort across our network.
If you run a shop, cafe, church, gym or other space and want to help host a collection point, we'd love to hear from you.
