RAIS is based at The Cornerstone on Sulyard Street, Lancaster
A Lancaster charity is looking for host families who would like to help with temporary accommodation for refugees.
RAIS (Refugee Advocacy, Information and Support) provides services to refugees and asylum seekers living in the Lancaster and Morecambe district.
Alongside St Thomas's Church, RAIS runs a project called Mind the Gap to provide temporary guest accommodation for asylum seekers who are here in the UK on their own and who have just got leave to remain.
The Mind the Gap project invites local people to offer guest accommodation to a refugee for the gap period while they get their bank account sorted and wait for their first benefit payment.
Most of the people who need this hosted accommodation are single men or men on their own waiting for family reunion.
Each hosted individual will be supported by an allocated RAIS volunteer who will have access to an interpreter if necessary and will liaise with the family on behalf of RAIS.
If anyone is interested in hosting a refugee for a few weeks until RAIS can find them accommodation, they can contact Fariha Blockley, development worker/co-ordinator at RAIS Lancaster, Cornerstone on Sulyard Street, via email to fariha@rais.org.uk or call her on 07496412945.
A pan-disability football game will take place at the Mazuma Mobile Stadium to help raise awareness of autism, and the support available to those who may need it.