No Border Kitchen Lesvos currently supports 450 refugees to cook and subsist autonomously, at a regular cost of 20€ per person per month. We are a self-organized group of activists with and without papers from all over the world, with the shared aim of overcoming the borders and restrictions that impede freedom of movement. We fight together for a world where we all recognized equally as humans. Our project is entirely volunteer run and we do not receive any regular funding. In two weeks our bank account will run empty and we will need your support to continue our work!

Why we are needed

Since the closure of the European borders in 2015, the situation on Lesvos has been deteriorating. The official camp Moria is with nearly 7000 inhabitants more than three times over its capacity. Solely in the last three months, 8000 people arrived by boat to Lesvos. Basic necessities are scarce and people’s basic needs for shelter, clothing and food are not met from the official structures. The quality and quantity of the food in the official camp is absolutely insufficient. Some people have been forced to live in the official camp in this horrible conditions for 20 months now. That’s where we step in, unbureaucratically filling some of the gaps the rotten European asylum system creates.

What we need the money for

Food provision is by far the area in which we spend the majority of our money. Every month we support more than 300 people with food boxes which enable them to live and cook autonomously at a cost of 3,60 € per person per week. For most, our support allows them to live outside the miserable, state-run camp, and making their homes in their own flats and squats instead. The demand for the boxes is huge and we currently have a long waiting list. We always hope to be able to support more people in future, but even continuing to support those we already provide for demands more funds than we currently have!

For the people we cannot currently support with food boxes, and for those who don’t have cooking facilities, we also organise a daily distribution of hot food of 200 meals a day with a cost of 0,30 € per meal. This is also important as an opportunity for meeting each other and chatting over a nice cup of rice and salad, and building networks of solidarity on the island.

To make all of this happen we buy monthly 1000kg potatoes, 600kg onions, 640kg tomatoes, 800kg vegetables, 1000kg rice, 500kg pulses, 1000kg of flour, 500kg sugar, 600l of oil, 80kg of tea, 80kg of coffee and 40kg of salt, plus spices and toiletries.

Delivering food boxes and meals involves a lot of driving which means we spend a lot of money on fuel, car repairs etc. At the moment we are also readying the kitchen for winter and so urgently need to buy building materials.

If you cannot donate yourself, you could help us by spreading the info about NoBorderKitchen and sharing this crowdfunder on Facebook and twitter!

Follow our Facebook (“No Border Kitchen Lesvos”) and our Twitter (“@noborderkitchen”) for information for updates on the work your support will enable.