Fab! is part of our responsive support during lockdown for those seeking sanctuary in Swindon.

This project has been made possible thanks to a generous grant from the Wiltshire Community Foundations COVID-19 Response Grant.

When schools closed our Schools of Sanctuary team discussed the issues that would now arise for our sanctuary seeking families. Their children were not eligible to still attend school and with little resources and no access to wifi in their home office accommodation we came up with the idea of daily activity boxes (FAB!) 

having discussed the idea and what resources would be useful with our schools networks and with some of our schools advisory group, some of which are parents who are in the asylum system. We then also consulted with The Harbour Project who welcomed the project and agreed to help us in identifying the families who would benefit from FAB!  So far we have delivered  boxes to 13 families with 17 children receiving resources carefully chosen for their age, resources include: arts and craft items, games and resources to help with their English learning during this time.

Boxes ready to be delivered!

One of our recipients enjoying his activity book

Books donated by Swindon’s Central Library

We are now working on the 2nd phase of FAB! working with Swindon libraries to enable us to provide fiction and non fiction books and top-up items of craft resources for the families we are supporting. We are also collaborating with a local artist who is creating a unique FAB Colouring Book for Swindon City of Sanctuary, built around the RW2020 theme of Imagine!

Thank you!

Thank you to The Harbour Project for working with us and delivering the boxes during their food parcel deliveries.

Thank you to Swindon’s Central Library for 98 brand new books!

Thank you to artist Bekah Kienzle for volunteering her time to create something unique for our families and schools network.

And of course a big thank you to Wiltshire Community Foundation for funding our Family Activity Boxes.