MORE than £85,000 of winter aid relief has been distributed to refugees on the Syrian border by Blackburn-based charity Al-Imdaad Foundation UK.

The charity has already built the UK’s first village inside Syria, and delivered more than one million kilos of flour to refugees in December.

Represtatives from the UK charity, as well as Blackburn mayor Coun Salim Mulla, visited the country in December to open the village, and were shocked to find that refugees were suffering under extremely cold conditions.

Many of the refugees, including children, were suffering from frostbite, as they did not even have socks and shoes to wear in sub-zero temperatures.

As a result, since arriving back in the UK, charity bosses launched an urgent winter warmth appeal, which asked people to donate £25 to provide people in Syria with hats, gloves, scarves, shoes, and blankets,.

The appeal, which has been running for just over a month, has so far had a phenomenal response.

International projects co-ordinator, Zubair Valimulla said: “The response has been fantastic from the general public and we would like to thank each and every person that took part in this brilliant project.

“Only with your support were we able to deliver 65,000 blankets and over 18,000 winter kits which includes hats, gloves, scarves and footwear”.

The Al-Imdaad Foundation is a registered UK charity providing humanitarian aid relief with registered offices in Australia, Indonesia Jordan and head office in South Africa.

To view live updates on the distribution visit www.alim daad.co.uk.