In the summer of 2015, after a volunteering on the ground, our small team assessed what the biggest needs were for refugees in Calais and Dunkirk so we could focus our time and resources. We met with refugees in the camp and they described to us how they’d had their most basic human rights refused, we heard repeated stories of daily abuse and humiliation inflicted by gangs and shockingly, the CRS French military police (paid for by the UK.) It was very clear that most people lacked access to basic health care, aid and shelter. Following the photograph of Syrian toddler Alan Kurdi, (who had tragically drowned crossing the Mediterranean) appearing on the front pages of most mainstream newspapers, we quickly started to receive hundreds of emails offering help and thousands of pound in donations. These donations enabled our team to grow significantly.