Thank you so much to all Sun readers, say William and Kate after Turkey earthquake appeal raised £1.5million
THE Prince and Princess of Wales yesterday hailed “fantastic” Sun readers for raising £1.5million for victims of the earthquake disaster in Turkey and Syria.
Kate and William spoke while meeting six-year-old fundraiser Jess Jordan on a visit to Muslim centre in Hayes, West London.
Kate and Wills heard Jess had collected £50 towards the £1.5million total put together by kind-hearted readers to help victims of the disaster in Turkey and Syria.
Kate, 41, smiled as she bent do shake Jess’s hand.
Wills, 40, said: “Have you learned about earthquakes? Keep your fundraising going.”
Kate added: “Thanks for all your efforts, they will go a long way. If everyone all together does a little bit it makes a difference.
“There have been lots and lots of children being affected by it.”
The couple met Jess and her mum Esther, 43, from Battersea, South London, while visiting Hayes Muslim Centre, West London.
The cash raised is supporting the Red Cross’s frontline work after last month’s quake left at least 50,000 dead and 1.5million homeless.
The royals’ spokesman told The Sun: “The Prince and Princess were so delighted to spend time with Jess and Esther to thank them for their support of the Sun’s fantastic campaign for the British Red Cross.
“We’d like to thank every Sun reader who’s donated to this important cause.”
Jess said afterwards: “I told them that at school we will have a quiz to raise more money for The Sun’s Red Cross fund for the earthquake.”
Esther added:“It was amazing the Prince and Princess came to speak to us. It is really good to raise the profile and keep it in people’s minds. It doesn’t go away.
“People’s attention moves on and people don’t have to donate a lot — just give £5 if everyone does their little bit.
“It has really impacted children like Jess because there are children in Turkey without schools to go to, without toys or without a home.”
Kate and Wills also spoke to aid workers from Disasters Emergency Committee charities.
Inma Lopez, Director of Programmes at the British Red Cross, said: “The needs in Turkey and Syria are huge. They are not going to recover in weeks, months or even years.”
Cash from Sun readers has already helped the Red Cross distribute more than 100million meals, 54,000 tents and 200,000 blankets to survivors.
Diseases including cholera have hit parts of Syria and communities are suffering due to a lack of sanitation and clean water.
In all, kind-hearted Brits have helped the Disasters Emergency Committee Turkey-Syria Earthquake Appeal raise £121million, it was announced yesterday.
That figure includes donations from the King and Queen Consort, and from William and Kate.
The Muslim Centre itself raised £30,000 — including an initial £18,000 in just two hours.
Cash from Sun readers has already helped the Red Cross distribute more than 100million meals, 54,000 tents and 200,000 blankets to survivors.
Kate told fundraisers: “It shows the strength of the community when you are coming together and supporting each other.”
Malen Alhousseiny, response manager with Age International, told the couple it was the worst crisis he had been involved in.
Salah Aboulgasem, an aid worker with Islamic Relief who spent time in both Turkey and Syria, said that in the first few days night temperatures were plunging as low as -9C.
He told Kate and Wills: “People were struggling. It was really tough.”
He also described seeing desperate rescue workers resorting to hammers and bare hands to save victims from the rubble.
He said: “They were hearing voices underneath.
“You’re working, and you know you are not going to achieve anything, but you continue to do so.”
He recalled seeing a nine-year-old girl pulled alive from a building, only to die in an ambulance because the road to the hospital was blocked.
Wills and Kate also joined Dila Haya, 14, and Lina Alkutubi, 15, making paper cranes — symbols of hope.
The pals folded 700 as part of a fundraising effort by Waldegrave School in Twickenham which raised £10,000.
Dila told them: “It is really important to fold cranes together, because it means that the more people fold one crane together, the more power they have.”
William joked his effort was “more like a digger”, then looked at Kate’s effort and said: “Yours has got proper aeroplane wings! It’s a go-faster crane!”