A SOUTHAMPTON woman has launched a campaign to support refugees stuck outside of Europe.

Nikki Elmasoglu has joined forces with Jenni Smith to bring hope to refugees who are struggling to forge a life for themselves along the border of Turkey.

The pair met when they went to help pack boxes and transport collections for Southampton Action Group but decided to branch out on their own.

Nikki, 48, a housewife from West End said: “We realised after a while that all the collections were just going to refugees in Europe. I have been married to a Turkish man for 10 years, we travel over there a lot and I wanted to help the people I had seen struggling when we went over this summer.

“I have made contacts with people who travel to the beaches where that picture of the young boy who drowned was found and we have found people to help with shipping and now have somewhere for storage.

“I just think it’s horrible and if people like us don’t try to help then they will have nothing and neither will their children. They have risked everything with no idea what is on the other side and now they are struggling so we want to help.”

Nikki and Jenni, 66, retired from Bitterne, have now set up shop in Woolston and are urging people to come and drop off any unwanted items and also volunteer to help with boxing up collections and quality checks. They want to create shoebox-style collections for specific people.

Nikki added: “We are looking for winter clothes, toiletries, pyjamas and are also trying to minimise the amount of liquid because that can be hard to transport so bars of soap and deodorant sticks are better."

Anyone hoping to help can drop-off their donations at the storage centre at 4 Lower Mortimer Road in Woolston.

Any volunteers can email nikkielmas@hotmail.com or jenniandmo@gmail.com or call Nikki on 07511676545 or Jenni on 07990874492.