A COUPLE are appealing for donations to help their efforts to save European children from human trafficking.

Tim and Ellie Button are set to travel to Moldova in February, one of the poorest European countries, to give out care packages to families including food, clothing and essential survival items to help them through the tough winter season.

They’re hoping to raise £2,000 to fund the packages.

Moldova, situated between Romania and Ukraine, is also described as the slave capital of Europe, as many of their children will end up being forced into the human trafficking industry, which is estimated to be worth £130 billion worldwide.

Tim, 29, and Ellie, 24, will be taking a team of eight people out with them to the country for a week to distribute their care packages to families with no heating or running water, having organised everything themselves.

Ellie, a former Plume School student, will be travelling there for the second time, with Tim having been three times before.

Tim said: “I first heard about Moldova when a shopkeeper told me about their living conditions and how much human trafficking happens there.

“Around 40 per cent of the working population live and work abroad, because after the fall of communism in 1991, there just wasn’t anything there for them.

“So many children are put into state orphanages, and when they’re old enough to come out, there are people just waiting to pick them up and give them to the human trafficking industry.

“We’re raising funds so we can get the care packages together for the essential items we take for granted. It costs around £10 to provide a package for a family to live off for a month.

“The children are the hope for Moldova, if we can teach them in the ways they can go, when they are older they will not depart from them.”

Ellie said: “Of those that do work there, the average wage per month comes to around $200, which is nothing, and it forces them to work abroad and stretch families apart.

“The support we will hopefully give them will change their lives, and if that means less children go into slavery, it will be worth it for one life.

The couple’s long term aim is to one day set up a camp in Moldova that can function all year round as a place for children to go for activities, support and getaways, and a base to provide further support, with the idea of setting up their own charity provisionally titled “Oaza de Speranta” (Oasis of Hope).

To donate, visit www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/tim-button-5.