MASS Action, London (2026)

28/05/2024

Mass Action are working with .of.steel again this year on our new campaign - Do It Thighself!

Founded in 2016 by a group of volunteers in Athens, Thighs of Steel wanted to connect migrant solidarity with their love of cycling. Since 2022 we have partnered to facilitate the distribution of over £700k to grassroots refugee projects across Europe.

As in previous years, 2024 funds will be allocated to projects selected for a few key qualities:

Organisations that act with respect and treat all humans equally.

Organisations run by the local community or those with refugee experience.

Small, non-bureaucratic organisations that can adapt to their community’s changing needs.

MASS Action are flexible as to the projects we fund, listening to the organisation’s self-described greatest needs. In most cases the greatest needs are running costs. Projects often close because they can’t get funding for the boring stuff like rent, bills and maintenance. You can’t take great pictures of these things, and they doesn’t make newsworthy impact statistics, but boy are they important, and therefore so is Thighs fundraising!

Big energy to all those steely things planning their fundraising rides this year. If you’d like to learn more and sign up please head over to their page and take a look!

21/05/2024

2024 fundraising cycle adventure planning, GO GO GO!

To keep supporting our partners working in solidarity with migrants and refugees, THIGHS OF STEEL are going Do It Thighself! Get together and get organising!

Whether that’s a multi-day tour, or a weekly group ride, we want you to keep the (DIY) thighs spirit alive, and keep fundraising along the way.

See the link here to learn more and create your own Justgiving page!

https://www.justgiving.com/campaign/solidaritycycling2024

19/03/2024

The next grant recipients we’re spotlighting are , organising in Kent. Captain Support believe in free movement and no borders. They observe court hearings to identify and offer support to people who are criminalised for the way in which they cross the English Channel (whether by ‘small boat’, lorry, or ferry).

Since November 2022, they have made contact and worked with over 130 people charged with these immigration ‘crimes’.

This grant of £5000 will help them to continue to write letters, travel to prison visits, send money for prison phone credits, and provide material items (such as clothing, books, post-release phones and SIM cards). They will also continue to support people in their own language with communicating with their lawyers and helping them stay in contact with their loved ones.

Huge kudos to Captain Support for the vital work they do and thanks to all who fundraised with us last summer!

In Solidarity, MASS Action

13/03/2024

Next up on our grant recipients from our latest round of funding is , operating in Northern France. Human Rights Observers is an observation body whose mission is to document and denounce legally and in the media the state violence perpetrated against displaced people on the French-British border, more specifically in the Calais and Dunkirk areas.

HRO was born in October 2017 as an inter-associative project, at the request of displaced people in Calais.

HRO’s work consists of daily observations to collect data on police operations, mainly concerning forced evictions of informal settlements and the methods used: confiscation and destruction of property, forced sheltering, police violence, arbitrary arrests, etc. They then use this data to carry out advocacy work and to raise awareness using various means of communication.

We are excited to support this project with a grant of £6,000 and encourage you to check out their work and support them, too! Thank you to the incredible cyclists at .of.steel for raising the funds 💫

In Solidarity, MASS Action

28/02/2024

We are pleased to announce our recent support of Akwaaba, a Hackney-based social centre for migrants in London. Thanks to the gorgeous cyclists with THIGHS OF STEEL last summer, we’ve granted Akwaaba £4800 of the total £114,594.27 raised!

They offer a volunteer-run space for rest, play, learning and mutual support and believe that no-one is illegal. They are committed to actively opposing racism and all other forms of discrimination and oppression. Akwaaba’s aim is to build community and foster care, cooperation and solidarity. At Akwaaba, they run support sessions twice a month. Their support includes hot meals, wellbeing activities, English, arts, sewing, computers, a barbershop, children’s programs, food and travel assistance, signposting, referrals, grants, training, and workshops by local community partners.

They are currently crowdfunding for their art project, the members really find the art group is a safe space to represent themselves. Donate here! https://akwaaba.org.uk/donate/

In Solidarity, MASS Action

21/02/2024

Next up on our grant recipient spotlight is ECHO Refugee Library. ECHO is a small mobile library serving migrant and marginalised communities, mainly residents of the camps around Athens. They operate on a fixed weekly timetable, visiting four camps and two other spaces inside Athens, lending books and giving out language learning resources specifically made or collated for their library users.

The library is a shared, accessible common space. They offer books in the main languages spoken by the majority of our library users (Arabic, Farsi, English, French, Turkish, Kurmanji, Sorani and more) with librarians able to communicate within cultural and linguistic differences.

In their own words: ‘We recognise that together as migrants, refugees, workers, and displaced people, we are comrades; and that attacks against refugees and migrants are attacks against all of us. Therefore we work together in solidarity in a shared struggle for a better world for us all – and we cooperate with our comrades locally and internationally, because we know that we are stronger together.’

We are pleased to be able to support your work with a £4950 grant raised by the amazing 100 cyclists with THIGHS OF STEEL this past summer!

In Solidarity, MASS Action

19/02/2024

Collective Joy Collective were recipients of one of our grants, funded by the amazing work of the THIGHS OF STEEL cyclists earlier this year!

They believe that being in spaces of collective joy - sharing a meal, doing an activity with someone, dancing or making a new friend - are essential for the mental and emotional wellbeing of everyone, and is something we all have a right to.

They create events, parties and moments that aim solely to bring people together in joy to challenge and resist the Hostile Environment’s impacts which they will continue to do with our grant of £1000.

CJC have been active since 2019, engaging people across 4 parties at church halls around east London, and with an 8-week programme of crafts and kid’s films on Zoom during the pandemic.

Thank you for spreading joy, creating a sense of community and bringing people together!

In Solidarity, MASS Action

12/02/2024

Musikarama are another of the latest projects we have pledged to support at MASS thanks to the amazing work of the cyclists with THIGHS OF STEEL who raised the funds last year.

Musikarama is an independent grassroots project based in Athens, Greece, that connects people and communities through music. It believes that music is a powerful tool for enforcing social inclusion, equality, solidarity and dignity (Karama means dignity in Arabic). Its values lie in embodying and spreading collective action, sharing of culture and art, and reciprocity. We run a program of various music lessons and activities, which are free of cost for the participants, both children and adults.

Our funding of £5809 will help them to build a Solidarity Radio this year. It aspires to be an altar where people will be able to share music, elements of their culture, and freely express their concerns and problems.

In Solidarity, MASS Action

05/02/2024

In the UK, we have been able to support the work of Together now in our latest grant programme with a grant of £5,000.

Together Now believes that all refugee families should be able to live together, if they choose. Their wish is to see all refugees in the UK having access to support to be reunited with family members from when they first seek asylum to when their family has arrived and are settled into life in the UK. They also offer travel assistance and support to reunited families.

Here’s a testimonial from one of their clients:
“I would like to say that be with your family is so great a feeling. That feeling make you like strong after weakness.

I was so sad because l left my family and very sad for my wife because she was alone when she needed me. For me it was so hard time whenever I want to do something amazing or enjoy myself. I need days or months to just see my wife’s eyes and let myself believe that she is by my side I am not in a dream.’

Thank you for the work that you do, Together Now! And thanks to the amazing cyclists with THIGHS OF STEEL who raised these funds!

In Solidarity, MASS Action

01/02/2024

Science United Project are the next recipients up from our latest funding round supported by THIGHS OF STEEL 🙌

Their mission is to provide science education to displaced students in all educational settings by supporting their teachers 💫

Science United provides free training workshops on experiential science teaching to teachers with displaced students and free educational material in the form of science kits, made of organised, safe materials for experiments on Electromagnetism, Mechanics, Biology and Mathematics, supporting students’ understanding of science concepts, promoting new language acquisition and practising socioemotional skills, while overcoming language barriers.

This grant of £2673 will help them focus on reaching asylum seekers and refugees who are currently living in the Greek accommodation sites of Mavrovouni, Lesvos island, North-east Greece and Malakasa, Central Greece, encouraging and actively supporting them to attend science teaching workshops, plan lessons and facilitate science activities for the children in the camp.

Thank you for the work you do!

In Solidarity, MASS Action

29/01/2024

No Borders Manchester are next up on our grant recipient spotlight! The funding from our latest grant giving programme was raised by the 100 wonderful cyclists that rode with THIGHS OF STEEL - a huge thank you to them for helping us support groups like No Borders Manchester!

No Borders Manchester is a collective that organises in solidarity with migrants and refugees locally in Greater Manchester, nationally, and with those internationally resisting border-related violence. Their approach is rooted in mutual trust between ourselves and the communities we work with and support, and comprises various interconnected networks of community care.

Our grant of £5,100 will support to expand their coffee mornings: a monthly space where people facing the hostile environment in Manchester can come together and relax, talk, and be without any expectation or barrier (social, financial, etc). We hope to be able to expand the activities we offer in these sessions by providing space and resources for anything attendees wish to do.

Thank you to No Borders for the work that they do ❤️

In Solidarity, MASS Action

25/01/2024

We are happy to announce the next grant recipient: Chamomile Housing Project who received £7470 in funding from MASS, raised by the amazing cyclists who rode across Europe last summer with THIGHS OF STEEL!

Chamomile Housing Project works with previously homeless refugees, asylum seekers and migrants who are facing chronic mental health challenges. They have offered holistic supportive accommodation and person centred, individualised psychosocial support to this group since 2020, supporting people to obtain documents, and access public health services, asylum support, state benefits, and meet basic material needs. Our goal is to offer skills, information and pathways to participants in order for them to live autonomously, meet their needs, and pursue their dreams.

The grant from MASS Action will fund the 2024 parachute program supporting participants (3 adults and 1 baby) in 3 apartments, to provide a pathway for full independence for 2 of these adults, and interim support for 1 adult before they are admitted into a program with long-term support.

Take a look at the important work Chamomile are doing!

In Solidarity, MASS Action

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