Town council keeps aside funds to help refugees

FUNDS raised by the community to support refugees coming to Frome will be ring-fenced by the town council, to enable councillors to decide how best to support displaced people in Frome. 

In February 2022, when Russia invaded Ukraine, Frome Town Council launched a Crowdfunder campaign, after a member of Frome Twinning Association said Polish twin town, Rabka-Zdrój, needed financial support to help fund host families. Around 18,000 Ukrainian refugees had fled to the town.

At the full town council meeting on Wednesday 13th March, cllr Anita Collier gave an update about the work of the Frome Welcomes Refugees advisory group, formerly Frome Welcomes Refugees, which supports displaced people arriving in the town. She explained that the Crowdfunder campaign had raised over £40,000, with the majority being donated to Rabka-Zdrój.

Cllr Collier said the remaining total is now £15,000, which the town council will keep in case there is a need to use it in the future.  

She said, “Rabka came to us looking for help. They were desperately in need because they had a huge number of people pouring in from Ukraine into Poland. They told us they had all the blankets and all the other goods and their warehouses were completely stacked out, but they were desperately in need of money to help the host families. We started a Crowdfunding campaign that raised over £40,000, which was amazing and a huge credit to the people of Frome to do that. It was tremendous.” 

“Rabka has told us they are in no desperate need for that money at the moment, [so] what we have decided to do is try and hold onto that money because who knows what is going to happen next,” explained cllr Collier. “As and when we get to the stage where it is needed, we will have a discussion about how that will be used. If it’s not needed in this administration, then we will go back to people to talk about what we might do.”  

Asking whether the funds raised in the Crowdfunder campaign could be used for humanitarian aid in Gaza, cllr Ben Still said, “I felt the need to give voice and acknowledgement to the tragedy and humanitarian crisis currently happening in Gaza. It’s also something that is incredibly relevant to this topic. At present, over 30,000 civilians, 14,000 of which are women and children, have been killed. And over 100,000 people currently face imminent starvation. That being said, I wanted to pose the question of whether some of that £15,000 could be re-directed to give humanitarian aid to Gaza, if that’s a possibility, or whether that could be raised with the [Frome Welcomes Refugees advisor group].”  

Cllr Collier said, “My only thought, and I will voice it with the group when we have our next meeting, is that money that’s been raised in Frome, we really should be supporting people in and around the Frome area. I know it’s heartbreaking to see all that is happening around the world, but because we have collected specifically for refugees in Frome, I think it’s only incumbent on us to make sure that happens.” 

Cllr Mel Usher asked whether the Frome Welcomes Refugees advisory group could explore with the town council the possibility of using the funds to bring one or two children from Gaza to Frome. Cllr Collier said that there would be ‘no hesitation’ to support refugees coming into Frome, but that she would raise this with the advisory group to discuss how far the funds could be used. 

At the start of the war, a group of volunteers accordingly created a support group called Frome Welcomes Refugees (FWR) calling on the skills of people who had supported earlier refugees. This group continued to support arriving refugees until an official infrastructure was established in late December 2022 with the advent of the Refugee Hub, now known as the Welcome Hub, in Frome Town Hall under the auspices of Frome Town Council. 

In 2023, FWR re-defined its aims and became the Frome Welcomes Refugees advisory group (FWRAG). In conjunction with the Hub’s remit, the group’s coverage widened to include a number of villages around Frome. The activities of the group support all refugees regardless of nationality.

During 2023, the number of refugees and asylum seekers in Frome and district fluctuated, but the following figures show the situation at the end of 2023; 47 families are in Frome and district from Ukraine, Syria, Eritrea, Kurdistan and Afghanistan, representing 139 individuals. Seventeen families are still in hosted accommodation, with the remainder living independently. Of the approximately 80 adults, around 50 are working and contributing to the Frome community.