Appeal funds top £2million for victims
MORE than £2million has already been raised to help the victims of the blaze.
Online crowdfunding appeals have been flooded with donations as people across the country rally to show their support and do what they can to help bereaved families, the injured and those who have lost their homes.
Donations have soared past the £2million mark and volunteers in the area and further afield have been inundated with clothes, food and offers of accommodation.
An Ayrshire removals firm have received clothes, shoes and toiletries from across Scotland after putting out a plea on social media.
Georgina Berry, director of Richard Healey Removals in Beith, said: “One of our companies we work with in London launched an appeal and we got in touch asking if we could help from Scotland.
“We put an appeal on Facebook on Wednesday night and the response has been overwhelming.
“The support has been phenomenal with so many people wanting to help.
“Some people have brought in lots of bags, others what they could afford.
“Some have gone out and bought lots of new clothes, toiletries and shoes.
“We stayed open as late as we could on Wednesday and when we arrived yesterday morning, people had left loads of bags at the gate.
“We have people dropping in before work, on their lunch breaks and after work.
“We’re waiting on donations coming in from Orkney, Glasgow and Inverness and we plan to transport everything down as soon as we have the green light.”
Businesses near Grenfell Tower brought trolleys of refreshments including sandwiches and fruit for members of the emergency services.
Hayley Allen said: “We have a local community focus and wanted to help and show our support in whatever way we could.”
Phone company TalkTalk, whose headquarters are close to Grenfell Tower, opened their offices to locals, offering food and drinks and chargers. TWO young sisters who escaped the horror of Grenfell Tower are feared to have been orphaned.
Malek Belkadi, eight, and six-yearold Tamzin were found in hospital by frantic relatives more than 24 hours after the fire.
But their mother Farah Hamdan, 31, and father Omar Belkadi, 33, are still missing, along with the couple’s baby daughter, six-month-old Leena.
Leena is feared to be the youngest victim of the disaster, which may have left more than 100 dead.
The family were asleep in their two-bedroom flat on the 20th floor when the fire started.
Desperate relatives spent hours trawling local hospitals before finding Malek and Tamzin alive.
One is in a coma after breathing smoke while the other was sedated due to trauma. Farah’s cousin Adel Chaoui said: “My family has been round all the hospitals asking for anyone who matches the descriptions.
“One took pity on us and gave us information and it was one of the children who was missing. Our brother is wandering around the wards and sees a child two beds down and found it was her sister.”
He said staff at the hospital were not even aware the two youngsters were related.
Farah’s father Rkia Hamdan said they were not giving up hope that the other family members would be found. He said: “We’ve been to all the hospitals and we’ve been searching all day but we still haven’t found them.
“We just want to know they are safe. We have had no help from the police.”
More tragic stories of families separated or feared lost in the fire