DAILY Echo readers have raised an astonishing £200,000 to help rescue tens of thousands of refugees from one of Europe's worst humanitarian disasters.

Our Cash for Kosovo campaign, run jointly with the British Red Cross, is giving hope to victims of all ages trying to rebuild their lives in the wake of the horrific Balkans crisis.

The financial lifeline brought vital emergency relief to hastily-built camps, and has been rolled into a longer term effort to repair the war-torn region.

Now, David Alexander, international director of the British Red Cross, has sent a heartfelt message of thanks for all your donations, big and small, and praised the Daily Echo for its help in the campaign.

He said: "It is an astonishing amount of money for a branch to raise. It is a pity more newspapers didn't launch campaigns like the Daily Echo did."

Mr Alexander is expected to say a further public thank-you to the newspaper during a lecture in Winchester Guildhall on Friday, organised to mark the 90th anniversary of the charity's Hampshire branch.

He will give details of how donations by you have helped pay for:

Food parcels, tents, blankets, clothing and other basic necessities in the camps. n A message service to enable refugees to trace missing relatives.

Repairs to schools, community centres, and hospitals.

The re-connecting of water supplies. n Building projects to re-establish communities wrecked by Serb forces.

Support for refugees airlifted to other countries including the UK Hampshire Red Cross director John Derben said his staff had been stunned by the response from Echo readers.

He said: "I would like to pay tribute to the paper for running the campaign and to the readers for their efforts. The paper created great enthusiasm not just among the general public but at schools, business clubs, and other community groups.

"People were giving me money as I was going around. I remember a five-year-old girl who sent 50p in an envelope. It was very moving.

"They will never know how much good their money will do, but our staff in Kosovo have seen it. They have watched the Red Cross doctors going into the camps. I think the readers are wonderful."

Despite the success of the campaign, Kosovo faces years of painstaking resettlement to recover from the hell of ethnic cleansing.

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