Despite the thousands of pounds and mass item donations dropped off for the survivors and relatives of those lost in the Grenfell Fire tragedy, it appears they have only received a small fraction of them.
We all saw the pictures of piles upon piles of clothes, food, shoes and toys donated as they sat in carparks, community centres and basketball courts accross West London, with over 170 tonnes of donated items being collected.
Yet, 100 giant cardboard containers of donations now sit in a warehouse in Cheshire. From there, good quality clothes go to Red Cross shops accross the country to be sold, not directly to the Grenfell residents and families.
Shockingly, less than 6% (10 tonnes) has been offered to the residents who have lost their homes, largely due to the sheer volume of items donated. Only brand new items are being returned to London to be given to residents.
So far the charity has managed to sort through around half of everything donated.
Diana Goss, from the British Red Cross says Grenfell, as a logistical challenge for aid agencies, is “really off the scale.”
When it comes to the cash donations, the government pledged £5,500 in emergency funds for every household who lost their home, but as much as £20m has been donated by private individuals and businesses to charities and appeals.
Less than £800,000 of these donations has been given out so far. 16 people have so far received financial support from the London Emergency Trust totalling £158,000.
