PLAY 4 CALAIS CREATES FOOTBALL PITCH FOR REFUGEES IN JUNGLE

PLAY 4 CALAIS brings pop-up cinema, sporting activities and play-time to the 600+ children and 6000+ adults living in The Jungle in Calais. With little to do and trauma high, refugees are desperate for respite care and community building activities to take part in. Football is a universal language that speaks to all and helps build cross-cultural bonds amongst the Jungle’s diverse and sometimes divided communities.

Since December 2015, PLAY 4 CALAIS have made nine trips to Calais and “popped-up” over 20 cinema screenings to about 300 children and 600 adults. The PLAY 4 CALAIS motto is “be a light in the dark”.

Founder Alix Wilton Regan created the charitable fund in December: “PLAY 4 CALAIS is a grass-roots initiative to provide a humanitarian response to this humanitarian crisis”. The group’s most recent project has been to build a football pitch, with football and sports activities for children and adults of all sexes and ages.

Arsenal Football Club has generously donated football kit for the refugee children to wear during the PLAY 4 CALAIS games. The Arsenal Foundation has been a crucial supporter of the refugee crisis, having recently donated to Save the Children’s ‘Child Refugee Crisis Appeal’.