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

Christmas Week at The Gate

A couple of weeks we told you about what we were getting up to at The Gate this week. And, as promised, here are some of the photos from yesterday's Christmas Day!

We have actually had three Christmas dinners so far this week with another one happening in about two hours! It's been so much fun for the staff and best of all our clients have all had a brilliant time.

Hopefully this montage gives you a glimpse into the day. And if you want to see more then watch Look North this evening at 6.30pm on BBC1 and you'll be able to see video footage of the day and a feature on A Way Out.

This is the last blog of 2011! Thank you so much for following us and we hope that you have a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

Love from A Way Out x

Give a Gift this Christmas

Have you seen the John Lewis Christmas TV Advert yet this year? If not, you really should check it out, it makes for good viewing. (The link to Youtube is here.)

At A Way Out, we love giving gifts to our clients. We know that it means so much for them and, unlike this video, many of them don't have cosy homes and families to go to where there will be an abundance of presents under the tree.

You'll remember that in our last blog, we told you about our plans for Christmas this year, to bring hope and love this year. Although we are doing everything that we told you about in that blog, we have not received the number of donations of gifts that we were expecting. This means that some people will be going without gifts this year. We really, really do not want this to happen!

If you think you could help us and make such a difference to the lives of at risk and vulnerable women and young people then there are a few ways you can do this:

1. Buy a gift for a woman, teenage girl or teenage boy and drop it off at The Gate, 1-2 Castlegate Quay, The Riverside, Stockton-on-Tees, TS18 1BZ

2. Donate directly to A Way Out via http://www.justgiving.com/Jessie-Jacobs0

3. Text 'LOVE92 £5' to give £5 which will use to buy a present for somebody.

Thank you so much for reading this.

Love from A Way Out x