New Year - New Shoes...

With only days left until the end of the year many of us will be thinking through our New Year Resolutions already. It's where we pledge to make a change, to do something different, that will shape our lives in the coming 12 months.

 

 

 

 

Now for some of us that may be a diet or a promise to get to the gym, for some of the people who access our services it could be a life-changing decision to journey with A Way Out to see their addiction broken once and for all.

 

But one pledge we received recently is so memorable we just had to share it with you.

 

Last month we launched our 10:10 Campaign to coincide with A Way Out's 10th birthday.

 

 To celebrate our first ten years we held a special dinner party at Destiny Centre in Norton. On the night we heard from our CEO Jessie Jacobs, we were taken through the journey so far, we heard the empowering scripture from John 10:10, 'the thief comes to steal, kill and destroy, but I come to bring life and life to the full,' we heard incredible singers bring to life our story and the stories of some of women we have helped, and together we had an opportunity to become partners with A Way Out in becoming regular financial givers.

 

Chloe Gray singing 'Read All About It' at our 10:10 dinner party

 

 

Well, not only did 27 incredible people sign up to give £10 a month, not only did we receive around £2000 in cash gifts, but we also received a pile of pledges too. And among them was this very special promise...

 

                                                                                          

 

What's so incredible about this overwhelmingly generous gift, is that the road we have travelled from where it all began all those years ago, to seeing and helping more than 1200 people every year, is paved with stories just like this.

Whether it's people who give up their time to do a bag-pack, or local businesses who choose us to be their 'charity of the year', a women's group who run coffee mornings to raise funds for us, dance groups who stage events on our behalf, runners who do marathons in our name, service users who go on to volunteer, volunteers who go on to raise money, staff who work over and above - and you, reading our blog and joining us on the journey. It all adds up to an incredible story, with a new chapter being written by us together.

 

 

 

In actual fact, this pledge amounts to £800! And it's even more special because it was pledged by someone who volunteers with us. Thank you - you know who you are!

 

But when it comes to seeing lives changed every penny makes a difference. So we are always extremely grateful for all of you who say 'yes' when it comes to helping us.

 

And even in the last few weeks we have plenty of people to say thanks to.

To help us stage the dinner party without using much-needed funds from A Way Out's budget, Jewson, Naylors Chartered Accountants, Crathorne Hall, The Blackwell Ox and Barclaycard all sponsored the event.

 

Pastors Cath and Jonathan Harris gave us the use of Destiny Church, the room was beautifully decorated by amazing florist Adam Prest, as well as decor and table set up from Truly Madly Heavenly and Ruby Shoes.

 

We had PA and film support from Teesside University, David Coxon and Andy Rose, and Sean Johnson and James Head produced our incredible A Way Out 10:10 video (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ebhemesp4Rs).

 

Guests sitting down to enjoy the three-course dinner at the 10:10 Campaign launch

Following the event - and throughout recent weeks - the Christmas spirit seems to have caught up with many of you as we have been inundated with love and generosity time and again.

Thanks to Asda, in Portrack and Thornaby, for Christmas present donations and bi-monthly cash donations, to Destiny Church for the most beautiful donations of gift-wrapped 'smellies', to the students at All Saints School in Ingleby Barwick who donated these 30 beautiful hampers for our clients... and I'm sure there are many, many more of you to thank as the office is full of presents, wrapping paper and festive cheer!

It really has been an amazing year. But before we say goodbye and blog for the last time in 2012 I want to share one of my own personal highlights.

Popping downstairs one day I bumped into one of the girls who has been coming to A Way Out for some time. She was carrying shopping bags and looked exhausted.

"Where have you been?" I asked.
"Shopping," she said. "To get new shoes."

And from the bag she pulled plain, sturdy, black leather shoes.
They weren't fancy, they weren't glamorous, they were no good for anything that might happen on 'the streets'. But she was beaming about her new purchase.

I later learned she bought the shoes for her first 'real' job.

Your generosity throughout the last year has contributed to this one beautiful woman walk away from her past and into a future full of hope and possibility.

Merry Christmas,

with love,

from A Way Out xxx

What Could You Give this Christmas?

Christmas isn't always twinkling lights, plenty of food, presents, happy families and good news. Christmas-time can bring back difficult memories, and be a reminder of loneliness, homelessness, fear, sadness, desperation, debt. In the parade of lights, presents, gatherings and parties, let's remember those who are less fortunate and consider what we could do...

What Could You Give?

Many of the women and young people we work with can't afford to make Christmas special, or even buy their children a gift. Many of them are in desperate situations and Christmas-time is an added complication. We believe that Christmas is about good news; news of life and of freedom and of hope. We want to bless the women and young people we work with by giving them gifts. We are aiming to give out gifts to 100+ people. 

Could you help us bless them?

You could help us by donating £5 or £10 online to Just Giving, and putting 'Christmas Presents' in the reference, to do that just follow this link: DONATE A CHRISTMAS PRESENT

Alternatively, you could give by text. Just text love92 and the amount, ie love92 £10 to 70070 to donate £10 to A Way Out.

We are looking for presents suitable for women between 17-30, children aged 0-13 and teenagers. If you have a new present suitable, we would love it to be dropped off at our building, The Gate, unwrapped. Alternatively, Asda in Thornaby, they have a Christmas Trolley there ready to accept any gifts you are willing to donate. Thank you!


Here's some ideas...

• alarm clocks
• gift cards
• lend us your advantage card to spend the points at Boots!
• mini hairdryers
• double duvet set
• hot water bottle
• home decorations
• children's toys

We already have plenty of toiletries to give out, so any other gifts would be very welcome!

Many thanks to Destiny Church and Teesside University who are already doing collections for us.

If you would like to find out more, then get in touch with Sarah-Jane, who could give you a few more details. Every little helps - each £5 or £10 will bless an individual in need this Christmas.

Thank you.

Love from A Way Out x

*images thanks to seanmcgrath on Flickr, Roberto Tim on Flickr

The Launch of our 10:10 Campaign

You've heard already that A Way Out have reached the grand age of 10 years old! Yes, for a decade we have been bringing hope, freedom and wholeness to those who need it most.

We have seen amazing things happen over the last 10 years; lives restored and made whole, people safely off the streets, exiting prostitution, free from addictions, safe and away from from abusive situations, in jobs, with homes, able to see their children.  We have come a long way from the humble beginnings in Jessie's Grandma's living room, where a small group of people committed themselves to bringing about change.

We celebrated the launch of our 10:10 campaign with our 10:10 dinner last Friday.

What about the next 10 years?

There is still injustice in the world, there are still people who need to be set free from their life controlling addictions, helped through recovery processes, made safe from abusive situations, protected from being at risk.

We have a vision for the next 10 years to continue to restore lives, and bring hope, freedom and wholeness!

John 10:10 in the bible says 'The thief comes in the night to steal, kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life and have it to the full." We believe that all women and young people should be free to live healthy, whole and safe lives, free from addiction, poverty and abuse. We work to see this restored in the lives of the people we work with.  We take inspiration and hope from this verse in the Bible and the foundations of A Way Out are built on Christian principles, prayer and faith.

We already have an amazing family at A Way Out, a network of incredible volunteers, staff, partnering services, trustees, ambassadors and more who support, encourage, enable and develop the work of A Way Out so it can continue in the future.

We need this family to grow if we are to grow over the next 10 years.

These are some of the ways we intend to keep bringing love, hope and freedom:

• We want to give more young people someone they can turn to and trust through our mentoring initiatives. 
• We aim to help many more young women find a way out of sexual exploitation and life-controlling situations through to full recovery. 
• We want to develop our Community Wellbeing Hubs, distributing food parcels and engaging with those who feel at risk, isolated or vulnerable.
• We want to engage and help families develop positive routines and supportive relationships.
• We want to see more young people engaged in positive activities and making healthy life choices. 
• We want to speak out for many thousands more who are marginalised, vulnerable or at risk.
• We want to see people have access to A Way Out services in other towns and cities across the UK.

Our 10:10 Campaign

Our 10:10 campaign is all about is all about how a small amount regularly, can make all the difference. Perhaps you could volunteer 10 hours a month, tell 10 people about our services, host an event, book a speaker of ours, or you could contribute financially to make a huge difference.

• £10 a month Provides on evening street safety session a month on the streets of Stockton.
• £20 a month Supports one young person suffering with anxiety and low self-esteem to attend a 'Friends for Life' course. 
• £100 donation Enables one woman to access a group therapeutic session for 3 months as part of a recovery programme.
• £200 donation Provides 1 week of food and resources for our Food-plus scheme, supporting families that are most needy.

Join the family, and help bring life to the full!

Choose to find out more here: http://awayout.co.uk/whats-new/1010-campaign/

love from A Way Out x

A-AWO #womensupportwomen

Left to Right: Sarah-Jane Hill (fundraiser at AWO), Mandy Welland-Taylor and Karen Walker (from Truly Madly Heavenly), Ann Stonehouse (Chair of Assist Networking)

On the 10th October 2012, Assist Networking and AWO combined for a common force for an evening of ladies networking; women supporting women!

The aim of the evening was to spend time together meeting one another over tea, coffee and snacks, exploring the A WAY OUT building, the Gate, and exploring ideas of how women in Teesside can support our work here at A WAY OUT and support eachother.

The wonderful Mandy and Karen of Truly Madly Heavenly ran the evening, with support from our fundraising team. Their fantastic ideas led to a creative mood board session, where each woman had the chance to make a colourful display of ideas. The mood boards were made from magazine clippings, buttons, glittery glue and more, and everyone then presented their mood board on how to support A WAY OUT back to the group for feedback and development of ideas.

The vibe of the evening session was fantastic, the creativity of each person that joined was so encouraging and inspiring. We discussed ideas on how to support women, run events to fundraise for A WAY OUT, run workshop sessions, boost confidence and even more.

One of the ideas that came from the session is the Christmas Afternoon Tea on the 4th December, details of which can be found if you follow this link: Festive Afternoon Tea.

We are so excited for this group of women, committed to doing what they can to support other women. 

#womensupportwomen

If you would like to join A-AWO, fundraise for us, input your creative ideas, run a workshop, or anything else you think of, we would love to hear from you! email Sarah-Jane with ideas and your details, and have a look around our website to see if you can get involved.

We're always looking for volunteers and supporters. Without the work of volunteers, our work here just could not continue. We are so grateful to each and every one of you!

We are really looking forward to the next A-AWO meeting, and seeing how these ideas develop!

Love from A Way Out x

Singing From the Heart

Song writing doesn't come naturally to most of us, but to some of the women from our womens drop-in project, it seems to be a gift!

It has also led them to an exciting few weeks; being on the radio, meeting one of the biggest boy bands from the UK (!), and growing in creativity.

Music helps us to express our emotions. Gifted songwriters often battle through difficult topics and heartbreaking lyrics and effectively get a message across. Liam, one of our community workers here and a talented songwriter and musician himself worked with the Recovery project, a part of our Heart2Change program to encourage creativity in songwriting. He's written a few words about the journey these women have been on...

"In August I started to get involved in the women’s group ran by Iona, and I was asked to do a song writing day with the girls. At first it seemed like it was going to be a struggle for the girls to have confidence in being involved, but within a few minutes we started to put a song together! The song writing only went on for half an hour but at the end the half an hour we had a full song written by the girls. The song was about how they were feeling before they found someone and somewhere they could go to and expressed their true feelings in this song. After this we started to get very excited that the girls had come up with something so amazing and decided we would try our best to get this recorded as the girls said nothing they do goes anywhere.
  After speaking to another charity who have a recording studio and vocal coaches, we decided that we could work with them to make this possible Over the weeks that followed, we had a vocal coach come over to help the girls with the song and this came from the recording studio. The girls started to get excited as we put a date in for recording. 
  This then led to the girls meeting JLS! (YES, they got to meet JLS!)

JLS meeting the girls

Performing the Song to JLS

Marvin gets acquainted with the AWO family!

They performed their song to JLS, giving them background on why they made this song. They then got to meet them in VIP at TFM Radio where JLS were about to go on the Radio. Marvin from JLS asked Jessie our CEO if she could give him the finished copy when the girls finish recording, praising the song and getting pictures with the girls and signing merchandise.

A Way Out meet JLS

This was a big boost to the girls confidence and made them really happy, this means so much to these girls as it is a step forward in their lives and something that they have never had the opportunity to do. After JLS left, the radio station asked us to do an interview and perform the song live on the radio as part of the story of how the girls and us got to meet JLS and what the story behind the girls lives and the song was about."

Performing the song to TFM radio

Big thanks to JLS and TFM radio who were both so encouraging and supportive when we met them, very welcoming and helpful. Thank you!

We'll leave you with a few lines from their amazing song; 'Everyday Things':

"I was feeling trapped, I didn't care about nowt

Then all of a sudden I found A Way Out

Out in the cold a whisper became a shout

I never looked back or gave a second doubt

I changed my life

It helped me see the person I could really be

This is me

Who could you be?"

Love from A Way Out x

Many thanks to Anthony Preece for the images in this blog post.

Give As You Live for A Way Out

We have recently signed up to 'Give As You Live' in partnership with EveryClick website, a new initiative enabling our supporters to fundraise for us, as a part of their everyday lives whilst shopping online.

You can either search for shops on their search engine, or download GiveAsYouLive to your computer, and whenever you do your online shopping, a few pennies may be donated to us (free for you!) at the same time.

There are over 2,000 shops participating in the scheme; hmv, Amazon, Boden, John Lewis, lastminute.com and more.

Give As You Live have also offered us a £5 charity donation for every new person who signs up and spends £10 online. If you have a few moments, why not sign up to GiveAsYouLive, and fundraise for us. Every penny counts, and as many people say 'if you look after the pennies, the pounds will look after themselves'.

To use the service, simply sign up here: http://www.everyclick.com/awayoutcharity . We really appreciate it, and raising funds is vital for our life-changing work here at A Way Out.

Thank You!

Love from A Way Out x

Heart2Change Graduation

Our Heart2Change project was launched last Autumn with five young women as a part of the recovery work we do. The aim of the project is to support 16-24 year old-women who have been a part of A WAY OUT for some time, and are committed to working on life skills and development. You can find out more about what the weekly program looked like from our blog post in January; Changing Hearts Changing Lives.

We reached the end of the program this Summer, and all five young women who began the course in November had extremely positive outcomes. Three young women saw the course right through and graduated from the program this Summer. During the course, one young woman decided to return to her college course, so didn't fully complete the program, but found renewed motivation from the program to continue learning and developing there. Another young woman was offered an apprenticeship which she decided to pursue, and we supported her in that decision.

The Heart2Change graduates, the Mayor of Stockton and A WAY OUT Staff

Two weeks ago we had a celebratory evening event - the Heart2Change Graduation - to celebrate all that these five young women achieved. We dressed up in suits and cocktail dresses and spent the evening in the beautiful Crathorne Hall in Yarm where we shared a delicious meal and excitement about all these girls have achieved and could achieve in the future.

The Mayor of Stockton came to our event too! She is a great support of our charity, naming us one of her charities of the year.

We ate dinner and had speeches, and then the young women received their awards!

They all received a bouquet of flowers, a certificate and an engraved vase.

As you can see, we had a lovely time!

It's been so important to recognise the significance of the Heart2Change program in the lives of the five young women we mentioned. Their commitment to development has been truly inspiring and we are so pleased for them and all they have achieved!

We want to leave you with Danni's Story...

Danni was referred to us by her college as she was homeless and having a really hard time. She was struggling to attend college and was experimenting with drugs and alcohol. Danni wanted to apply for Heart 2 Change to address these issues as well as to gain emotional support. Danni is now doing really well; family relationships have built back up and she finished her college course. She intends to go back to college next year to study social sciences in order to prepare her for university where she would like to study nursing.

This is Love, Hope and Freedom in action!

We are looking forward to the project starting again in the Autumn. Here's to more breakthroughs!

Love from A WAY OUT x

The Stockton River Rat Race 2012

We have been mightily impressed by the determination of a number of our supporters who have committed themselves to crazy challenge events, raising funds for us. You're all MAD for A WAY OUT, and we love you!

The most recent challenge event was one that took place right on our doorstep - the Stockton River Rat Race. The 10K race involves splashing, jumping, kayaking and running, including a jump from the ship just outside of our office into the cool, deep waters of the river Tees.

The full team standing with the Mayor of Stockton

The preliminary warm-up exercises were very important...

Hands up in the air!

Liam doesn't seem to understand it's "Hands in the Air!"

Squats!

Push-ups

We managed to capture a few snapshots of our team near the end of the race, when they weren't swimming through the River Tees...

Near the finish line

Final Rat Race Obstacles

We met our racers at the finish line, and they did fantastically, and even had enough energy to give us a big grin at the end of it all.

We have also had volunteers who have been fundraising for us through Total Warrior again this year, with bungee jumps and more, and we are grateful to you all. Thank you for all you do - your activities help support our life changing work! (We hope you've had fun in the process... ;))

love from

A Way Out x

An Evening of Rags and Muffins

We held another of our popular Rags and Muffins events a few weeks back. This time, we hosted the event in an evening, different to our usual afternoon slot and naturally the evening oozed style, local talent and class! We had catwalks with fabulous models, dance groups, make-up artists, hair designers and more as well as gorgeous cupcakes and vintage clothes to rummage through.

One of our Rags and Muffins models.

Some of the team behind the event: Karen Heritage, Karen Heritage Dancers and Sarah-Jane our community fundraiser.

The Karen Heritage Dance Group in Action.

More from the Dance Group

All clothes that the models wore were for sale by Vintageous Rags, who sponsored the event.

Some of our lovely models from the catwalk.

One of our Rags and Muffins models.

Sarah-Jane, event co-ordinator and volunteer Tom, who compared the evening for us!

As you know, these events are more than just a good time, they're vital to our funds for our work to continue, and also helps us to raise awareness of who we are and what we do. On that note, we would like to take a moment to thank Asda in Thornaby, Stockton, for making us one of their charities of the month, and if you live in the area - we would love your support if you shop at Asda!

Thanks to all those who participated in our Rags and Muffins event, and to all those who came. We couldn't do it without you!

Love from A Way Out x