Since March 2020 RAY has been unable to run any of our usual services. Instead, all our support has had to change to being virtual. At the same time, because of a shortage of Initial Asylum Accommodation caused by the pandemic, the Home Office began to house Asylum Seekers in hotels across the UK.

One of these hotels is in York, and RAY began to support the Asylum Seekers living there by collecting donations of clothing, shoes, used mobile phones, and other items to distribute. RAY visits the hotel to give out these donations, offers help with understanding Asylum paperwork, a telephone befriending service, and provides English classes in the hotel in partnership with York Learning.

Through our visits, RAY learned that a number of the Asylum Seekers in the York hotel are talented artists, and we wanted to give them an opportunity to showcase some of their work. We also hoped to use one of their artworks as the basis for our RAY Christmas card this year, so we gave them an optional theme of “Winter” for their exhibition.

We’re delighted that Haxby and Wigginton Methodist Church are hosting an online exhibition of some of these artworks. You can view the exhibition here:
https://www.hwmc.org.uk/post/art-exhibition-from-ray

Some of these artworks will also be available very soon in the form of a calendar for 2021, and Christmas Cards - keep an eye on our website and Facebook https://www.facebook.com/RefugeeActionYork for more information!