Islanders raise £1,000 for Grenfell Tower victims

Thursday 06 July 2017

Fundraising by two Jersey women has collected £1,083 for the victims of the Grenfell Tower fire that killed over 80 people, and left hundreds homeless.

Natalie Purdie and Kerry Torpy held several car boot sales, the first one just a couple of days after the tragic fire, and organised a raffle to raise funds.

The two friends felt compelled to support the victims of what Natalie describes as an "awful tragedy" after seeing the news.

She told Express: "As soon as I heard about the Fire I was devastated for all the people involved, but a story I heard about a lady trying to escape with her 6 children and only getting to the bottom of the tower block with 4 really pulled at my heart strings. I decided I wanted to do something to help these people in anyway I could, my friend Kerry felt the same and we decided to join forces."

Rather than sending clothes and toiletries, which the victims had been "inundated with", Natalie and Kerry chose a different approach to raise money. 

Natalie said: "We collected donations from members of the public and decided to hold some carboot sales and raise funds to send to them instead so the money could be used to buy the things they needed."

Organisers of the car boot sales at Corbière, St. Brelade and Milbrook kindly donated pitches to Natalie and Kerry. The two ladies also received a number of items from islanders that they were then able to sell, raising over £800.

They also decided to hold a raffle, which raised £248, and Natalie contacted several businesses to request prizes. The raffle top prize was a night for two at the L'Horizon Hotel and other prizes included vouchers at De Gruchy's, RAD Fitness, Mollie Cupcakes and Ceri's Cupcakes. 

The two ladies said they were "pleased" with the amount raised in a short time and thanked all the businesses and individuals, who donated money and offered them support in their fundraising. They will send the collected funds to the Evening Standard Dispossessed Fund JustGiving page, which has raised £1,790,190 since its launch last month. The transfer will be done in the next few days, and in the meantime, Natalie says people can still donate.

She says: "Anyone that would like to make a last minute donation can get in touch by email at [email protected] "