REFUGEES fleeing crisis could settle better into their Oxfordshire homes thanks to residents who "whole-heartedly want to help".

Host Abingdon, which launches next month, will ask residents to donate food, clothes and cultural lessons to refugees and asylum seekers who set up home in the town.

Organiser Adrian Rance-McGregor said: "I saw the news about migration and people drowning.

"My first reaction was sadness and despair, but also the feeling that if you just look at the news you can't really connect with them – it's something happening 'over there'. But things are happening here.

"Our concern is to extend the warm hand of friendship and an open heart to those who arrive and need our help."

The 70-year-old Abingdon resident, who lives in Park Road with his wife, pitched the idea of a refugee scheme to his fellow trustees at St Ethelwold's House in Abingdon, which hosts spiritual events.

Mr Rance-McGregor said: "There was such a positive response – I thought, 'we can do something here'. We've already got 74 people signed up to offer practical support or contribute money."

They set up "informal steering group" Host Abingdon, similar to city scheme Host Oxford but with less focus on taking refugees into family homes.

Mr Rance-McGregor added: "We are looking for benevolent landlords. People who stay here could get housing benefits but it's never enough to cover rents in this area. These landlords would provide accommodation at a level they can afford.

"We want people to start appreciating the reality these guys and families are facing. We would like people to offer practical help where they can."

St Ethelwold's recently dedicated a refugee room for a permanent tenant, who Mr Rance-McGregor said has been given food and English lessons and even the offer of a fishing trip.

Oxford-based imam Dr Sheikh Ramzy, a peace ambassador who has helped rehome refugees in Abingdon, said: "I have spoken to them as a group and I adore them. They so whole-heartedly want to help.

"One refugee I talked to in Abingdon had three children in other countries and so desperately wanted to see them. He said 'it is the end of the world for me' and I said 'no. Life goes forward, just keep going'.

"I wish these refugees wouldn't have to cross the sea - it's awful for the whole of humanity that they are dying, mothers and fathers left devastated.

"But they come for many reasons, escaping killing and bombs and this evil thing that is war, and we have to look after them regardless of religion or political reasons - we are all human, brothers and sisters. These people are ourselves, they are our family."

Anyone who wants to offer support or donate money can join Host Abingdon at its official launch at St Nicolas’ Church in Market Place, on Tuesday, May 10, at 7.30pm.

Guardian journalist Patrick Kingsley, who has written about the refugee crisis, will appear as a special guest.