In little more than four months Dundee Refugee Support (DRS) has gone from a bedroom enterprise to being endorsed as Scotland’s newest official registered charity.
The organisation was founded by residents after a meeting in Menzieshill’s Charleston Bar illustrated their willingness to work to support Syrian refugees.
Within weeks they had to seek temporary accommodation after being inundated with donations, and tens of thousands of tonnes of aid have now been delivered to people stranded across the continent.
Now it has been given the green light by the Scottish Charity Regulator to form an approved charitable organisation.
Buoyed by the decision, the group will now operate a separate entity called “Dundee the Caring City”, which will aim to provide aid at a local level throughout Tayside.
DRS member Mike Strachan believes the progress is testament to the commitment and endeavour of local volunteers.
He said: “This means we can now look at progressing as a fully fledged charity which changes our demographic slightly.
“Hopefully it’ll help streamline things and going forwards it means we can help locally as well.
“Dundee Refugee Support is very much the bigger project and is probably about 95% of what we do, but having Dundee the Caring City as a charity means we can open our arms wider and help locally.
“To ship food, for instance, stuff needs to have nine months left before it expires, so we’ve given food to a local foodbank as well as blankets and bedding to local groups who work with vulnerable people.”
Mr Strachan added: “We’d like to thank everyone across Scotland but especially those in the local areas that have supported us from day one and continue to do so. It’s good news for us moving forward.”
Such has been the generosity of local people, DRS are now preparing to ship their first 25-tonne delivery from their Dundee base, having previously shared delivery space with a Glasgow charity.
For more on Dundee Refugee Support and the work they carry out, visit the charity’s Facebook page.