A FUNDRAISER has been hard at work collecting donations for refugees living on the island of Samos, in Greece.

Sophie Davies, from Droitwich, has nearly raised £500 for the Samos Volunteers charity, which provides refugees with essential items such as clothing.

But she is calling for help to raise even more cash, after she became involved with project through a colleague at work.

The 26-year-old said: "The first time I had heard about the charity was when a woman who I work with came round the offices promoting the fact that she is trying to help a charity in Samos.

"She was trying to encourage members of staff to bring in unwanted clothing, so she could box and pay to send all of the urgently needed items over to Samos this Christmas as a gesture of good will and kindness.

"I had a list emailed to me, with urgent items requires. Immediately I was touched. Things so basic as, socks, baby wipes and nappies were in urgent demand.

"One of the items, which moved me most, was coats. Adults, children and babies were all in urgent need of something so basic, a warm coat for the winter."

After collecting around four bags of unwanted clothes, she decided to try and do more for the charity and set up a fundraising page.

The Samos Volunteers group was set up in the autumn of 2015 as a response to the island's refugee crisis. The charity is run by Bogdan Andrei and supports refugees, and residents who have helped people arriving by boat.

Miss Davies added: "I personally feel people like Bogdan are amazing, the fact he couldn’t feel more satisfied by dedicating himself, his life to helping others, really inspires me to do any little thing I can to help.

"As when you have nothing, anything is something."

To make a donation visit justgiving.com/crowdfunding/refugee-crisis-greece

For more information about the charity visit facebook.com/samosvolunteers