PEOPLE in Wiveliscombe are fundraising without let-up to continue supporting a charity run by two local women who have spent months bringing tea, kindness and good cheer to refugees in Europe.

A table-top sale at the town’s community centre last Saturday raised £261, a recent Wassail event raised £217, and regular Saturday coffee mornings are all helping to boost the charity SolidariTea, which provides teas and promotes a positive sense of community.

Started by 22-year-old Rosie Johnson, from the town, who is working with fellow helper Ruby Katz, 26, also from Wiveliscombe, SolidariTea has now set up its specially adapted tea truck in Ventimiglia on the border of Italy and France.

They initially went to Calais to help refugees as the winter took hold, after Rosie and her previous volunteer partner Lily Stephenson set up the charity and spent five months in Serbia last year, having worked with refugees in Greece before that.

But Rosie and Ruby found that Calais had other people providing tea distributions, so they moved to Ventimiglia, where they provide hot tea and coffee – and occasionally hot chocolate – to refugees living under a railway bridge there.

“We aim to go where we are most needed, and we have paired our distribution with a group who provide a hot, nutritious meal each day,” said Ruby.

They make 100 litres of tea every morning and 150 every evening but also find themselves providing all kinds of help, along with others.

“The people that have the ‘power’ to make life easier for mothers, elderly people or children are absent 90 per cent of the time . . . independent volunteers are doing the job that large organisations should be doing,” said Rosie.

As well as regular tea distribution, some of the projects Rosie and Ruby have set up include a ‘quick info’ board for new arrivals, with information on food distribution times, emergency medical care and where to find a doctor, where to access blankets, clothes, asylum information and the internet.

They also recently put together a mini ‘pants pack’ project, after many women they met asked for help with underwear and sanitary products, and they even helped provide baths for two babies under four months old who were sleeping with their mothers under the bridge.

The SolidariTea truck is fitted up so that a speaker can provide entertainment, with traditional music and dance.

“We are slowly but surely building up a community of tea drinkers - everyone sits in the sunshine (at the moment) with a cuppa, chatting, listening to music and laughing,” Rosie posted on Facebook recently.

However another post spoke of two days of solid rain, and how vulnerable the refugees were, sleeping under the bridge and getting wet.

“People are beginning to realise that we’re going to provide stabiliTEA for the next few months,” said Rosie.

“Although there isn’t much we can do to help them on their journey across the border, we can be a source of ‘Ventimiglia info’ and a friendly face to ask questions to.

“Doctor Ruby has been changing bandages and giving Arnica cream to people who need it – everyone very appreciative!” she said in her post.

n Coffee mornings in aid of SolidariTea are held every second Saturday from 10am to 12 noon at the Silver Street Centre in Wiveliscombe.

To donate, or read more about SolidariTea, see Facebook.