FAQs

About us

  • Our charity was founded in the Kentish town of Tunbridge Wells. Our charity shops are in the South East of the UK, with our relief workers based internationally where the help is needed. We don’t have a physical office to save on those much needed pennies!

  • We were founded in 2015 as a direct response to the photo of three-year-old Syrian Alan Kurdi whose body washed up on the shores of Turkey after a failed journey to Greece via boat. You can read more here.

  • Yes! You can find us on the UK charity commission website under registration number 1175022.

  • Our primary focus is helping refugees “in transit”, which means that a lot of our work takes place where conflicts are at their most precarious. We focus first on frontline evacuations, then humanitarian aid deliveries. Our third arm is “self-reliance” - with various education and agricultural projects in motion.

  • Mainly Europe and the Middle East. As the refugee crisis is fluid and constantly changing, so are we! Since we were founded, we have worked in many countries including France, Greece, Hungary, Ukraine, Lebanon, Palestine, Turkey, Syria and Jordan (and still work in most of these places).

  • We don’t have a central office so do not have a phone number. Please check our contact us page for a list of contacts. If in doubt, try us on hello@refugease.com, and we’ll funnel it to the right person.

Getting involved

  • If you’re local to Tonbridge, Tunbridge Wells or Maidstone, our shops are always in need of volunteers. Please contact hello@refugease.com, or fill out the form refugease.org/volunteer-signup

    Most of our physical charitable work takes place on the ground in each country. We’re focussing on employing local refugees to help us in order to empower and support the economy of the host nation. Therefore, we are rarely looking for volunteer to help us abroad.

    Please check out the volunteer page for more info about our current needs.

  • We absolutely love it when people organise fundraisers for us! You will soon be able to download what you need from the website, but for now, please email us, and we’ll send over what you need.

    We have an account on Just Giving, so it’s best to set up a fundraiser on there and link it to our charity page.

  • We’d love to, although please bear in mind that we are a very small team, so can’t always attend. Please email us in plenty of time before the event and we’ll see what we can do.

  • The best way to support us is to help us spread the word about the work we’re doing! Follow us on social media, tell your family and friends and consider purchasing an item from our online aid shop, if you can. For more ways to get involved, click here.

  • Absolutely! We’re in regular contact with other local charities to support each other’s work. We also have partnerships with many charities on the ground who are helping us to get aid and support to those in need.

    We work with lots of UK-based businesses and organisations who help us to support our work financially. If you’re interested in partnering, please email us.

Donations

  • Monetary donations are the best as they allow us to be totally flexible with which project we fund next. You can donate to us directly here.

  • We are no longer collecting aid to be sent abroad. Instead, we’re encouraging people to buy items directly for refugees in our online aid shop. Providing aid this way, saves time and money and ensure that those in need are receiving exactly what is needed without delay.

  • Great - thank you! Please email us if you need any additional resources or information about how to transfer the funds.

  • Yes, absolutely. Please email with the details of your donation and we’ll provide one as soon as we can.

  • Yes! Providing you are eligible and tick the gift aid declaration box when donating, we will swiftly reclaim an additional 25% on all monetary and aid shop donations - hurray!

Furniture collections and deliveries

  • We can accept most furniture donations although from time to time we will put a hold on certain items if we have too many or are short on space! Unfortunately we aren’t able to accept beds, mattresses or baby items. Please check our furniture donations page for up to date information.

  • To our Horsham shop - yes please! If you have items which you can fit in your car/van and drop off yourself then that’ll save us time and money. However, please ensure you message us in advance so we can ensure someone is at the shop to accept and help store the furniture. Please do not bring furniture to our other stores unless you’ve had prior approval - they’re very small and we don’t have much storage space.

  • We have a dedicated driver who collects furniture from addresses within a 10 mile radius of Tonbridge and Horsham once a week. Please book your collection here.

  • Everything we sell is second hand, so some wear a tear is to be expected. However, please ensure that the furniture is in usable and saleable condition before donating. Disposing of unsuitable items costs us considerable time and money! Any fabric covered furniture needs to have a fire safety label attached still in order for us to accept it.

  • If your booking was successful you’ll receive a confirmation email, please check your junk folder if you don’t receive one. We’ll email you with further details closer to the date of collection and on the day of your collection. If in doubt, please email us here.

  • You can cancel or rearrange your furniture collection at any time by clicking the link in your confirmation email. Alternatively, drop us an email to make any changes.

  • We will consider house clearances anywhere in the U.K. Please send us an email with as many details and photos as possible and one of our team will respond to discuss further.

Shop related queries

  • Find out more about our shops and opening times here. As a guide, most shops are open daily 10am-5pm (4pm on Sundays) and closed on bank holidays. Please check our Google listing for the most accurate opening times.

  • We currently have stores in Tonbridge, Horsham and Norwich although our empire is ever-expanding! Find out more here.

  • We love donations! Please feel free to bring in items which are of good quality and suitable for resale. We hate to turn donations down, but sorting and disposing of unusable items costs us considerable time and money, and we have little storage, so please be mindful of this when donating.

  • We are a small charity and prefer to save on bills by not having a mainline phone number. Please contact us on Facebook or Instagram for the quickest response.