A UNIVERSITY lecturer from the North-East has raised almost £20,000 to take much-needed aid to refugees.

In less than 24 hours, a fundraising page launched by Teesside University lecturer, Bethany Usher, raised more than £18,000 to take ‘childhood bags’ to youngsters arriving on the Greek island of Lesbos.

Some 15,000 refugees have fled to the island after making potentially life-threatening journeys on dinghies and other unseaworthy vessels, with hundreds more arriving each day.

As many youngsters are arriving without clothes or shoes, Mrs Usher, 35, wants to send rucksacks filled with warm clothes, shoes, English or Arabic books, toys and colouring books to the island, as well as providing much-needed food and water.

The mother-of-two, of Gilesgate, Durham, said: “I have wanted to do this for a while and with everything that is going on it gave me an incentive to get on with it.

“These are people who have nothing - they are fleeing for their lives. When they get to the first place of safety they are finding there is no infrastructure in place to even provide the basic essentials."

Any money donated will go towards putting the bags together and the cost of transporting them to the island, with the first round of bags expected to leave the region on September 28 and arrive on October 2.

The former journalist has experience of running a similar campaign and hopes to travel to the island to help distribute the bags and provide practical help.

She has also joined forces with Melinda McRostie, who owns a restaurant on the island and has been helping refugees arriving on the island.

She has agreed to act as a drop-off point for people who want to send their own childhood bags directly to the island.

Bags can be sent to The Captain's Table, Molyvos, 81108, Lesbos, Greece.

To donate to Mrs Usher’s fundraising visit crowdfunding.justgiving.com/bethany-ogle-2