We appreciate it so much.

We do not know what 2017 holds, but we can all bet that it will be another challenging year. Just because the camp in Calais has been evicted does not mean the crisis has gone away, far from it. So please, if you make one resolution for 2017, make it a pledge to continue to support JCRAG, continue to talk about the refugee crisis, continue to give aid and time and funds to refugees in France and beyond, and above all continue to love in the face of hate.

That is the only way we can turn this tide that is sweeping our nations.

Here is a look back at the first full year of JCRAG, the last year of ‘The Jungle’, and what we fear is still only the beginnings of the refugee crisis that we will be dealing with for decades to come. These are the key events for us as an organisation, and for the crisis in Calais. Throughout this time we delivered aid monthly, held meetings and drop-in sessions, and gave talks about the refugee crisis. Thank you for being on this journey with us.

January

Amir Marreakhy arrives in Jersey and declares he is seeking asylum. While he is in La Moye prison (wrongfully detained in a criminal jail), JCRAG volunteers visit him and successfully campaign for his release to proper accommodation.

February

JCRAG travel to Brighton to give a cheque of £1,500 to the The School Bus - Mobile Education for Refugees

3 aid trips are sent to Calais with a huge amount of milk donated through Jersey schools and the wider public. Any milk donated was kindly matched pint for pint by Jersey Dairy. L'Auberge des Migrants

JCRAG volunteers support Amir Marreakhy in their home, providing shelter, food, and security that the State of Jersey should have been providing.

The southern section of the camp is demolished, and the result is people living in more cramped conditions and 130 children disappearing.

March

States of Jersey continue to fail in providing any support for Amir Marreakhy, even after expressing concern for the mental health of any refugees that may come to Jersey. JCRAG provides the only support to the man who fled Iran because of persecution.

April

Requiem for an American Dream by Noam Chomsky screened at Jersey Arts Centre with good attendance.

10 year old Megan from St Lawrence School raised over £200 for refugees by selling items she had made, inspirational!

JCRAG volunteers supplied the camp with more nutritious Jersey Milk and food.

May

St Brelade's College Adult Programme Fundraiser BBQ and Quiz raises over £1,000 that went directly to refugees in Calais.

June

Refugee Week saw islanders supporting JCRAG with their own initiatives. One of our dedicated volunteers raised over £150 through a raffle and cake sale at work – could you do the same in 2017?

July

Portelet Beach Café dinner and auction raises over £6,000! A huge amount that helped keep families safe during the demolition of the camp a couple of months later.

Amir Marreakhy granted asylum in the UK, a great victory for decency and justice.
http://www.itv.com/…/iranian-man-smuggled-into-jsy-in-car-…/

August

JCRAG have been operating for one year on 26th August 2016! So much achieved, so much more to do as the camp peaks at 10,000 people inhabiting the wasteland that is ‘The Jungle’.

JCRAG supporter Kat and her family befriend a teenager within the camp during their aid trip, by October unfortunately all contact has been lost with the young boy whose fate remains unknown.

September

JCRAG gives evidence to the Civil Society Report to the UN on the UK’s Human Rights record over the past 4 years, specifically about the treatment of Amir Marreakhy in Jersey.

Eight volunteers travel to Calais to deliver much needed food and aid to the camp in Calais, supporting the school, the warehouses that supply the camp, and a medical facility within the camp.

October

Huge donation drive at The Bridge and Liberty Wharf meant JCRAG sent three vans full to France, delivering to Calais (Care4Calais) and for the first time delivering to Paris where they teamed up with Paris Refugee Ground Support to deliver aid to refugees sleeping on the streets.

JCRAG watches as the Calais ‘Jungle’ is destroyed, and the final 120 residents taken on to buses.
http://www.itv.com/…/watch-jersey-charity-travels-to-franc…/

November

Jersey Arts Centre invited JCRAG to partner with them on the 12th Annual Human Rights Film Festival. Over 350 attended the festival, with JCRAG volunteers providing introductions to the films and an impromptu Q&A session about their experiences of the refugee crisis in France, Greece, and Lebanon.

The unofficial Stalingrad and Jaures camp in Paris is evacuated with 3,000 refugees taken from the area to CAO Centres around France. JCRAG witnesses the peaceful evacuation, after spending 10 days providing aid to the unofficial tented settlements on the pavement.

JCRAG facilitate a meeting of 30 Parisian and Calais based activists in Paris to see how to respond to the crisis as winter encroaches.

December

The Jersey Calais Refugee Aid Group become Jersey Cares: Refugee Aid Group

JCRAG sign a letter that is printed in The Times urging Theresa May not to ‘scrap’ the HRA (which directly translates into the Human Rights Law (Jersey)) with BIHR - The British Institute of Human Rights

Submissions for JCRAG’s Writing Competition come in from schools, which is to be judged by Sir Trevor McDonald with prizes for winning entries, all themed around the refugee crisis.
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This Christmas and New Year please don’t forget the millions of refugees who have made the journey to Europe, and who are finding a door closed in their face. We can open that door and change it from hate to love, but we can only do that together.

Coming up in 2017 we are proud to host Love Theatre’s production HOME at the Jersey Arts Centre on 31st January and 1st February. The play is based on testimony from refugees across Europe and is performed by local and refugee actors.
http://artscentre.je/event/home/

We will continue to work on education in Jersey, to ensure that the thousands of refugees in Europe are not forgotten, and will continue to support groups working on the ground in France.

Your help is needed in 2017 as much as it was in 2016, and just look at what we achieved together.

JCRAG love x

https://www.gofundme.com/d62crwpk