Aid mission helped by donation boost
Clothes recycling firm supports Suzanne’s effort
A Perthshire woman who tried to help refugees trapped on a Greek island has forged a friendship with a Perth-based clothing recycling company.
By working with Cash4Clothes to turn used clothing donations into money, Suzanne Milne from Scone has found a way to assist aid workers on Lesbos directly instead of trying to arrange shipments of aid.
The mum has spent the last 18 months “unable to switch off ” from what she saw as a volunteer with Attika Human Support at the Moria refugee camp on Lesbos.
On her return to Perthshire, having witnessed the overcrowded island overwhelmed with thousands of destitute and traumatised refugees, self-employed health advisor Suzanne became dedicated to collecting tons of clothing and toiletries from Scotland to send to the island’s struggling authorities.
Suzanne (38) personally sent a 14-tonne shipping container of clothes and hygiene products out to Lesbos in February 2020 and another filled with winter clothing in November.
But the Moria refugee camp does not exist now having been destroyed by fire and the situation is worse than ever, with refugees sleeping in tents or in the open air on the shore in freezing conditions.
The pandemic and the UK leaving the EU has made what Suzanne has been doing become near impossible.
While home-schooling her son, she has also been trying to crunch a number of problems thwarting the delivery of her aid effort.
“Greece is in lockdown and shipping containers must now be purchased and left there rather than rented and returned,” Suzanne explained.
“The price of a container has doubled now they are in short supply.
“There are restrictions on how many people can work in distribution warehouses because of COVID-19, it’s all making it so much harder to send aid to Lesbos.
“Then, with the UK out of a European trade agreement, it is impossible to know what the duty on a shipping container arriving would be.
“No-one can tell me. It might be so high when the container arrives, we can’t pay and the container cannot be opened.
“Everything has become a nightmare to arrange at this end and I’m still hearing how desperate the situation in Lesbos is with all this other stuff going on.”
Suzanne was thrown a lifeline when she brought clothes to the recycling depot on St Catherine’s Road Perth, Cash4Clothes. They convert textiles into money by weight.
“They took me aside and asked about what all these donations I was bringing them were for as I’d come with a van load to turn into money, instead of trying to stockpile for another container shipment.
“Very kindly they offered me a cage on their site, which would be specially to help my Lesbos cause.
They agreed that anyone who put their clothing in that, the money generated would be put aside for me, to pass on to those helping the refugees in Lesbos.
“That’s amazing and they pledged to give 60 pence a kilo - a much higher conversion rate than normally offered - for the clothes that are dropped off into that dedicated collection point.
“With all that’s getting in the way of my efforts to send help to the refugee crisis in Lesbos, this gesture has suddenly opened the way round the pile of problems I was facing.”
Suzanne was delighted to send 1050 Euros to Attika Human Support generated from the fabric reclamation at Cash4Clothes just two weeks ago.
In 2015 the refugee plight in Lesbos was all over the media.
But this time last year, Suzanne complained about how little news from the Greek refugee camps was getting through to people in the UK: “I personally didn’t know a lot about this situation before, but having been out there, I was shocked at how little we are being exposed to what is going on.
“The media has gone very quiet on it.
“I just want to do what I can. I know it is happening and I can’t just sit and do nothing.”
Suzanne says because of her contacts, she is well-informed about life in Lesbos and with the pandemic, it has got “a lot, lot worse”.
She added: “Please use the Cash4Clothes donation point in Perth. The money being generated there is helping me, through Attika Human Support on the island, continue to help people - many of the unaccompanied children - in unimaginable need.”
Take clothing to be converted to the warehouse at Unit 11, Ladeside Business Park, St Catherine’s Road, open Monday to Saturday from 10am-5pm.
See the Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/ cash4clothesperth/ or call Suzanne on 07541365067.