Desrie Camille Hadley, a member of VAL staff working on the GREAT Project, is collecting donations of sanitary care packages to ship to St. Vincent at the beginning of May 2021.
Desrie is originally from St Vincent and still has family and friends living there, so VAL is sharing Desrie’s cause to hopefully drive more donations. In Desrie’s own words:
On 8 April 2021, the northern half of my home Island, St Vincent and the Grenadines, was evacuated to the south anticipating the La Soufriere Volcano to erupt in less than 24 hours. At 8:40am on 9 April, La Soufriere explosively erupted and is ongoing. It has actually erupted as I’m typing this; today )13 April 2021) marks 42 years since its’ previous eruptions. The locals are saying it’s celebrating its birthday.
The country is currently covered in ash and Pyroclastic flows (dense, fast-moving flows of solidified lava pieces, volcanic ash and hot gases which occur as part of certain volcanic eruptions, are extremely hot and move at speeds as high as 200 m/s) have begun.
Over 20,000 people were evacuated. Schools, community centres, and church halls have been turned into shelters. Mains water supply has been either turned off to prevent contamination or supplied for a short period of time.
To support the people of St Vincent, I am collecting donations of sanitary care packages to ship to St Vincent.
Where to drop off donations
Donations can be dropped off at the Reception of VAL at 9 Newarke Street, Leicester, LE1 5SN, Monday to Friday between 10:00am and 3:00pm.
What you can donate
Sanitary care products that can be donated are:
- Wet Wipes
- Baby Wipes
- Baby pampers/diapers for all ages
- Sanitary pads
- Tampons
- Face masks
- Hand gels
- Adult diapers
- Soaps
- Toilet Wipes
- Toothbrushes
- Mouth Wash
All Donations MUST be delivered by 30 April 2021 at 12:00pm.
If you want to donate money
If you would prefer to donate money you can donate to UK-SVG FRIENDSHIP TRUST. This GoFundMe page is H.E Cenio Lewis, High Commissioner of St. Vincent and the Grenadines who is working closely with the UK-SVG FRIENDSHIP TRUST to coordinate the various fundraising efforts by Vincentians living in the UK Diaspora.
More information
If you have any questions please contact Desrie Hadley directly via dcahadley@gmail.com or on 07521 546 581.
Please note: This is a personal campaign for a member of VAL staff which we are sharing to increase its visibility and reach, so please circulate within any groups or platforms you are working with.