Words by Cheyanne Bryan
Choose Love, a charity that has fallen into the hearts of many and is making big moves to secure an inclusive society for all. Many may have come across this charity for their various collaborations with public figures, such as Bridgerton’s Nicola Coughlan and Benedict Cumberbatch, but they have nearly 10 years of experience getting frontline aid to people affected by humanitarian crises.
“Humanitarianism is about being led by compassion and the belief in equality, working towards a world where everyone has the same privileges and safety,” says Josie Naughton, co-founder and CEO, who in an interview with Smiley News shares the beginnings of Choose Love, their impact over the last 9 years, and their future plans to continue to spread their message.
Starting in 2015 as a response to the 2015 refugee crisis, Choose Love began operating under their first name ‘Help Refugees’ – a term that was being constantly typed into search engines with people looking to assist in humanitarian aid efforts.
Just 4 years later, the name ‘Choose Love’ came through an inspiration by the UK designer Katherine Hamnet, whose famous political t-shirts featured ‘Choose Life’ on the front.
With a preference to view Choose Love as a “movement” Josie said the change came from the need to “emphasise humanity and choice in their messaging”.
Over 9 short years, Choose Love has grown to support around 7 million people, 400 organisations working across 35 countries and raised approximately $120 million.
“It's been kind of the greatest privilege of my life and so many of the team's lives. But it, of course, has been full of highs and lows, full of challenges. It grew really quickly, I think, because so many people wanted to help, and they didn't know where to put that energy. And we gave people a place to put that energy.”
Focusing majority of their efforts on getting resources, aid and legal provisions to refugees and displaced people, the organisation has responded to many global crises around the world including those in Ukraine, Turkey, Syria, Afghanistan, and Gaza.
Despite there being a growth in support for Choose Love and their mission to help displaced people, the amount of refugees across the world has also grown. Josie quotes that when they started around 65 million people were experiencing displacement, however it has doubled to over 100 million today.
“We really believe that the way that you create change is by resourcing the communities themselves. And so you need to do that and invest in people, invest in organisations, and people need to have, like, longer term strategies so that they can really create change.”
She goes on to say: “A big part of what we do also is fund legal work, and that's because we need to actually change the systems. Humanitarian aid is really important, but we also need to look at the root causes. So choose love, make sure that we're supporting the immediate needs, but also the long term.”
While preparations for the 10th anniversary have not yet begun, Choose Love has some exciting plans coming up in the lead up. Stay up-to-date with their website to make sure you don’t miss anything: https://chooselove.org/
At Smiley Movement, we like to elevate the work of charities across the world. Here are three charities whose causes align with the themes in this article.
Choose Love. This nonprofit organisation is a global movement that uses sports to tackle the inactivity, stigma, isolation, and injustice that people with intellectual disabilities (ID) face. Find out more.
Refugee Action. This charity helps refugees build safe, hopeful and productive new lives in the UK. Learn more here. Find out more here.
Amnesty International UK. This is an international NGO focused on human rights. They work to expose abuse and injustice around the world. Support them here.
