A group on Facebook entitled ‘Fermanagh – Calais. Refugee Solidarity Action’ was started on Thursday and since then six drop-points for donations have been established in the county along with transport arranged for the supplies to be brought to Calais and then redistributed.

Roisin McAnulty from Enniskillen set up the local Facebook group on Thursday afternoon and has been overwhelmed with the response so far, with the group now sitting at 1731 likes.

“I thought at most our shed, our porch, our hallway would have 10 or 20 boxes at the most, but then I put a few posts up , a few pictures and talked through what we were going to do and then by that night 1000 people had liked the page. I then randomly went into my other message box and there were 70 messages so I was up to 2 in the morning answering those.”

She admits the harrowing image of little Syrian boy Aylan Kurdi’s dead body spurred her on to make a difference.

“That image was in my head that day and those thoughts were really running through my mind. You see your own children, I have three myself, you see that child so well dressed and think it could have been any of your children.”

Since Thursday a coordinator group for Northern Ireland has been set up and six drop off points have been set up in the Enniskillen area, while  Beatty’s Fuels have offered the services of a 40ft lorry to bring donations to Newry. From there the Newry Lions group, who are working in conjunction with the local group, will arrange transportation to Calais. From Calais the donations will be  redistributed to the refugees by international charities UNICEF and Save The Children.

On Saturday a special drop off day was held at Dylan Quinn Dance Studio in Enniskillen and the response was overwhelming, with 70 boxes filled with much needed items.

“Lots of people turned up on Saturday that I didn’t know which was fantastic. We were just smiling and laughing the whole time and got a great system going. We thought we might just get everything sorted, but we got everything boxed and labelled and ready to go so that was brilliant. We made a great team and I’m grateful for those people.

“I think it will make a huge difference. If you see the people coming out of Syria, the camps in Jordan and Lebanon they stretch for miles. The feeding of those people and to bring medical supplies on an ongoing basis takes a huge effort.”

The group are holding another drop-off day at Dylan Quinn Dance Studio, Henry Street, Enniskillen from 1pm to 6pm on Saturday.

With transport a significant issue for all groups Roisin has asked for local businesses to come forward and help with the relief effort. She also thanked all those so far who have contributed to the cause.