A Falmouth and Penryn community group has been offered a property to house a refugee family.

Falmouth and Penryn Welcome Refugee Families (F&PWRF) now needs to raise £9,000 required by the government in order to accompany their application to help a family and secure the house.

They have already raised more than £2,500 with events like a successful Syrian feast.

Inspired by a collective wish to help some of the people whose lives have been devastated by the ongoing civil war and conflict in Syria, the Falmouth and Penryn Welcome Refugee Families group was formed in April 2018 and registered as a charity late last year.

Jude Munden, one of the group's founders, said: "As a highly diverse group we are really well placed to help any families we bring to our home town to integrate with our local community.

"Refugees resettled in this way have been shown to recover from trauma and learn English more quickly than through any other process."

The government has created the Community Sponsorship Scheme for groups like F&PWRF.

To be matched with a family F&PWRF have to show that they have £9,000 available, a suitable house, a network of capable people able to help the family settle and integrate.

Other groups who have already resettled families through the Community Sponsorship Scheme nationally have reported huge benefits to their communities by helping a family, including increased understanding of other cultures, a greater sense of community and opportunities for people who may experience loneliness to help others.

Bea Shrewsbury, who started the Crowdfunder, said: "With over 88 people donating in the first week, it demonstrates that this is a popular project here in Falmouth and Penryn.

"We have raised over £2,500 already on the Crowdfunder. This is an average of under £30 per supporter. It shows how many small donations can add up. We only need another 230 people to support our project to reach our target and with a population of over 43,000 we can easily do that."

To donate to the crowdfunder, visit

crowdfunder.co.uk/welcome-a-refugee-family-in-falmouth-and-penryn

.

For more information on the group, visit falmouthandpenrynwelcome.org.