FOURTEEN teenagers from Barrow have been working hard over the past two weeks to repair the clothes of refugees and homeless people.
The group of 16-17 year olds are donating clothes to charity shops today. These will then be distributed to homeless people and Ukrainian refugees who have settled in the area with nothing.
This group did so as part of its National Citizenship Service (NCS).
Group media representative Asha Eva said: “We were given a presentation at school and it’s something we wanted to do.
“We all grew up in the area and wanted to make a difference. I think we were all angry that we weren’t doing more to help people who could have been us.
The group is proud of the work they have done for their National Citizenship Service
“We have been working for the last two weeks to collect the clothes. We put them in bags and transported them to the center. Today they will be returned and then sent to refugee centers and homeless shelters.
“There is definitely racism in Barrow, but we all want the best for each other. We hope we help by doing this and show people care.”
Erica Biglands, the group’s leader, coordinated the effort and promoted the group’s work by reaching out to local media.
The NCS is a government-run program that involves young people aged 16 to 17 in community projects. The teams that participate in the NCS are autonomous. They must come up with their own project idea and coordinate the effort themselves.
Similar to the Duke of Edinburgh, the scheme contributes to employability by being something young people can put on their CV.
Some 104,000 people had arrived in the UK under Ukrainian visa schemes on Monday, according to the latest figures from the Home Office.
It is because of the Russian invasion and occupation of Ukraine.
Overall, there were nearly 200,000 visa applications, meaning just over half of those who applied arrived in the UK.
Recently racist graffiti was spotted in Barrow town center which had to be cleaned up by cleaning contractors Grimefighters.
