Volunteers from AKQA have designed and provided e-commerce hosting for the online store Choose Love. For children and families that are forcibly displaced from their homes, Choose Love provides access to emergency relief, food, clothing, warmth and support services needed for dignity and survival this winter.
Products available from Choose Love include: children’s shoes, children’s coats, emergency blankets and warm socks. Each item consists of a description of how and why it was chosen, and gift collection it is included within. These necessities are categorised into a refugee’s journey of Arrival, Shelter and Future, enabling medical care, educational supplies and legal assistance to be gifted. Choose Love also provides digital vouchers allowing people to gift contributions, and a ‘Buy The Store’ option that includes everything available such as a month’s rent, food for a family, a donation to women’s safe spaces, tents, books and children’s jackets.
Items from Choose Love are distributed by the Help Refugees charity that is pioneering new approaches to emergency aid provision and long-term solutions. The Choose Love concept was devised by voluntary creative collective Glimpse. In addition to the online store, Choose Love has two physical stores at 30-32 Fouberts Place in London and 456 West Broadway in New York. AKQA Creative Director Tim Baggott, a Glimpse collective volunteer, collaborated with a team across AKQA to encourage and enable this initiative.
Josie Naughton, CEO of Help Refugees, said: “It’s easy to forget how lucky we are to have a bed, a blanket and a roof over our heads. For thousands of refugees this winter, these basic human needs are completely out of reach. This shop is all about one simple idea: that we should all Choose Love and help those in need.”
“Working with Glimpse volunteers and their partners we have created something magical that makes a difference to refugees. Choose Love is more than just a shop – it’s a chance for people to show they care and help. We couldn’t do it without the passion, creativity and energy of the team who have collaborated on this year’s project.”
According to the UN, in 2018 68.5 million people were forcibly displaced worldwide as a result of conflict, violence and human rights violations. Among them are nearly 25.4 million refugees, over half of whom are under the age of 18.
