Three Jewish students donate shoes to Kurdish refugees who’ve ‘lost everything’

Three Jewish children aged between five and seven have begun their school holidays by volunteering, delivering shoes donated for refugees by their fellow classmates on the last day of term.

Yavneh Primary School pupils Leo and Toby Charlton, 5, teamed up with Yosef Carmel, 7, to deliver the shoes following a Facebook campaign asking the Jewish community to help Kurds who have “lost everything”.

The initiative is the latest from Borehamwood-based charity Goods For Good, which works with industry to distribute overstocked and unwanted goods that may otherwise end up in landfill.

“We get a great response from local mums on Facebook groups, when we appeal for specific items,” said the charity’s founder Rosalind Bluestone. “Literally everything is needed, from shoes, nappies and sanitary products to toys and school stationery.”

Bluestone, who previously worked for World Jewish Relief, sends consignments to impoverished Jewish communities in Israel, Ukraine and Moldova, but said the plight of the Kurds warranted special attention.

“These vulnerable refugees in Kurdistan have lost everything they own and are in desperate need of life’s basic necessities,” she said. “These are the goods we all take for granted. With over 68 million people displaced globally, the world is witnessing the worst humanitarian crisis since 1945.”