Giving is for a life... not just a Christmas

 

Let's be honest, it's that time of year again.

Every charity, cause and goodwill organisation is asking for help in the run up to Christmas, and here at A Way Out, at first glance, we appear to be no different.

In just a few moments we want to remind you about an exciting opportunity where your Christmas gift to us could be doubled, but let us also tell you why your gift, and your partnership, is so important to us.

You see, a gift given to A Way Out this Christmas is not about giving our service users a wonderful gift. It's not even about Christmas dinners, parties and celebration. It's not about helping people combat the cold or tackling food poverty, although we will be doing all of that, quite literally, with bells on.

Actually, it's not really about this Christmas at all. But it is about the many, many Christmases to come.

This year, it is with great joy that we can report, that three of our female service users will be experiencing a better Christmas than they could ever have imagined a year ago.

This time last year three mums faced the agonising prospect of waking up on Christmas morning without their children.

 

 

 

Removed from their care for many reasons, our project staff have worked tirelessly this year, bolstered by the financial support you have given us throughout the last 12 months, to help these women take hold of their lives.

 

Through outreach, counselling, therapy and friendship these three beautiful mums, and their precious little ones, will this year be having Christmas together again. Families have been restored because you made a decision to journey with us last year.

 

And for that, please can we say a massive thank you.

 

A gift given to A Way Out is not about a quick-fix for Christmas, it's about helping us to commit to people who need us to walk with them over time.

 

 

It's about believing that there are children in Teesside whose only Christmas wish is for their mummy, not for Santa, 

 

that there are mums who have faced their fears and battled their addictions to have their children returned; it's about holding up a person's future not branding them by their past, it's about giving them the opportunity of a new year and a new start.

 

So with that in mind, would you consider partnering with us to see NEXT Christmas look very different for the women, young people and families who we work with?

 

There's never been a better or more exciting time to give.

 

On December 5, 6 and 7 any financial gifts given via www.thebiggive.org.uk will be doubled!

That's right, by giving online through The Big Give website, your £5 gift becomes £10, your £100 is worth £200, and even larger gifts of up to £3000 will be doubled too.

 

This is too good an opportunity for us to miss out on, and we know our faithful friends and supporters will value this chance to see their money go further and more lives impacted.

 

We would love you to join with us in impacting lives, sharing our message of Love, Hope and Freedom and to make someone's Christmas wish this year, become a reality over the coming months.

 

Thank you so much.

Stay warm, stay in touch and have a wonderful advent season with your own friends and family.

 

It's time to Shine

It's been a busy few weeks, as ever, here at A Way Out in Stockton. With Autumn now here and Christmas just around the corner we have plenty to keep us busy in terms of the services we provide and the people we exist to serve.

Food poverty remains a high priority in our hearts and for our agendas, as families begin to make the difficult choice now between heating and eating. Our Food Plus and communities team work tirelessly to help those most in need. Email liz.edwards@awayout.co.uk for more information on how to donate food or how to volunteer in the community hubs.

For those of you who are organised enough to be thinking about Christmas shopping, December will bring a chance for you to help us through an initiative called www.thebiggive.org.uk .

Any money donated online, through this website, on December 5,6 and 7 will be doubled! Your £5 gift will be doubled to £10, and even larger gifts of thousands will multiplied as well. This is an opportunity too good to miss.

Sign up to our Twitter (@awayoutcharity), Facebook (A Way Out Charity) and Instagram (@awayoutcharity) sites for more information on this, and all our news, and spread the word! ‎

Lindsay with Emily, the social worker
from Spurgeon's Academy, Kibera

Out of Africa

Mother Teresa once said: "Let us touch the dying, the poor, the lonely and the unwanted according to the graces we have received and let us not be ashamed or slow to do the humble work."

And with that in mind, A Way Out, realised a dream this week as we completed our first global venture, taking part in a two-week mission trip to Uganda and Kenya.

Invited to join the team, to help deliver sessions to women, a group of 13 people left from Teesside on October 10, returning on the 26th.

Representing A Way Out was Lindsay Bruce. Part of our fundraising and church engagement team, as well as being a pastor, Lindsay's role on the mission team was to deliver the Shine course and help with youth and children's work.

A value-based, empowerment programme it teaches three key concepts of worth, strength and purpose. Over the two weeks, more than 100 women from the Kampala slum community and around 50 from Kibera in Kenya took part in the course. With a further 250 in a women's prison in Uganda also benefiting from the teaching. The course was also taught to key women in local churches, and with teachers and social workers.

Shine - Uganda

Shine

Lindsay said: "One of the most powerful elements of the Shine programme is when we introduce hand massage. "

This seemingly insignificant process actually carries huge meaning. Used firstly as an illustration to depict that hands can be used for good, or harm, the massage begins with positive touch.

"Please remember the context of the woman from the slum streets of Kampala and Kibera," Lindsay added. "Almost all of these women will feel like they occupy the lowest level of society. Many will have a positive HIV status, many will be widows, many will have been abandoned by their husbands, many will have lost multiple children to disease and infection, many will have been raped or abused routinely. Without exception, the message that these precious women are of equal worth and value to all other women, was life changing.

"Countless testimonies of feeling less, feeling insignificant, feeling like they have no worth at all, were replaced by smiles, heads held high and new statements of, 'I have worth', 'I am made to Shine.'"

The massage is also carried out woman to woman, to encourage these beautiful sisters to look after one another as a Sisterhood. But on two occasions Lindsay was moved to tears.

 

Lindsay with the Power Women in Kibera, a cooperative of
women with HIV working together to help each other

She said: "One was when Sophia, dying of HIV, and mum to two young sons, refused to give over her hand in case she passed on her disease.

 

"That wasn't the moment to talk education or the ins and outs of HIV, but it was the moment to take her hand, and rub in expensive beautiful cream, and to reassure her that she is precious, valuable and significant.

 "The other was inside the walls of Luzira women's prison. Dressed in pink, so I knew she was branded as 'condemned to death', one beautiful, elderly lady sat against the back wall. When the hand massage began she neither asked for cream nor lifted her hand to be touched. Instead she turned away.

"When I moved towards her and asked why, she said, 'No. Not me.' Taking her hand in mine, I began to rub the cream all over. She cried, I cried. It was more than a moment of rubbing someone's hands. It was about placing value on someone who felt unworthy, but who actually carries the same value as me and any other."

There are countless other stories that go with this trip as we took our message of Love, Hope and Freedom over international borders. Watch this space for more snippets over the next few weeks.

 

· Please check out www.thebiggive.org.uk and let others know that an early Christmas present given this way could change lives for the year to come!

· Follow us on social media, and visit our website www.awayout.co.uk for more news and information.

Love, Hope and Freedom... across the globe

It's a Monday afternoon and the doors are open wide to welcome women, young and old, into our building for a 'drop-in'. Kettle's boiling food is prepared, staff and volunteers are lining the halls talking through expectations for the afternoon ahead.

It's a normal - busy - day at A Way Out.

There will be women popping in who we know. Their situations, struggles, accomplishments and successes form part of the A way Out story. There will be those new to A Way Out. They've come with a friend, or like the lady who just knocked the door in tears, just desperate for food and some support. Then there will be girls who we have known for years. We see them every week, and every week we ask them, we plead with them, to come off the streets and into A Way Out. It's always a good day when we welcome one of those precious women through the doors and onto the couch for a coffee.
Not everyone, though, understands why we do what we do.

"Do you want a cuppa?" I ask one young pregnant mum.
"Course. I'll make it."
"No, you sit down and I'll get it for you."
"I don't get you lot, skivvying about after us. I wouldn't, all you get is grief back."

I actually stopped dead in my tracks when she said that. Her impression of what we do is to be 'used' and undermined. The truth couldn't be more different.

See, we understand that each of the women who walk through our doors have intrinsic value. They have worth and they have a purpose. A precious gem in a paper bag has exactly the same value as one set in a beautiful gold ring, so circumstantial settings and outward appearance don't change a person's value.

We believe that. And knowing that about yourself can change everything. It altars what you choose to do, and what you allow to be done to you. It stirs hope and belief, it helps a person see past the now and want more for themselves.

In fact, that message of Love, Hope and Freedom, and our passion for instilling a sense of worth and value into women, young people and families, regardless of circumstance, has seen doors open for A Way Out locally, regionally and nationally this year already.

But in just a few days time our work - our message of Love, Hope and Freedom - will extend it's reach across the globe into Africa.

Partnering with a team from Stockton Baptist Tabernacle, one of our team will be travelling to Uganda and Kenya to deliver workshops and teaching aimed at helping raise aspiration and resilience in women blighted by poverty and abuse.

The trip has been entirely paid for through external fund raising - so none of your generous monthly gifts have contributed to the mission.

Now, of course we can't wipe out the vastness of African poverty in just a few short weeks, or change cultures long established. But we can plant seeds of hope. We can speak love over people's lives. We can show a company of women thousands of miles from our home that they are loved, valued and treasured.

We'll keep you updated on that all unfolds.

Pleas let me take this opportunity to say thanks again for all that you do in praying, financially supporting and volunteering at A Way Out. We couldn't do this without you.

Watch this space next month for how your Christmas gift could be doubled!

Have an amazing week,

With love,

from A Way Out x

“Better to light a candle than curse the darkness” (Eleanor Roosevelt)

“Better to light a candle than curse the darkness” (Eleanor Roosevelt)

 

A Way Out has been nominated by Stockton MP Alex Cunningham for a Centre for Social Justice award and this quote was on the awards literature.  It linked to something that was going through my mind this week.  For the past few weeks, our news columns have been filled with the tragic story of Drummer Lee Rigby; the devastating event, the subsequent grief, the nation’s pain and individuals’ anger.  This was a truly dark moment for our nation.  But one story jumped out at me over the weekend that lit a candle into all this darkness.  This was the coverage of the Hero Ride on Saturday in London.  1,300 people descended from all parts of the UK and Europe to raise funds for soldiers and families of soldiers, like Lee Rigby, who have been devastated by war and conflict.  1,300 people cycled for a cause, motivated by love and solidarity; 1,300 people making a positive sacrifice for something they believed in and being a light in the darkness.

It reminded me of the beginnings of A Way Out and the darkness I had witnessed many years ago, when I found children being used by men as prostitutes on the streets of Stockton.  It reminded me of the devastating poverty and abuse that we uncovered in our communities; of the children’s lives that were being needlessly lost to suicide, drugs and alcohol.  But most of all it reminded me of that moment when we decided to be a candle in the darkness and the sacrifices myself and the other founders of A Way Out chose to make to bring back hope to these devastating situations.  There are many people who have now given their lives, their time, their finances or resources to make a difference in the lives of women and young people across our Borough and to me this is a reminder that there is still so much good, hope, love and life in the world.  Each of us has the ability to be a candle, to be a light in dark places and every one of us has the capacity to love and to give and to care.  While it is so easy to curse the darkness, what will actually make it disappear is the light.

Jessie Joe Jacobs (trying to be a light)

If you are interested in helping us bring light, hope and freedom in Stockton, please see our website www.awayout.co.uk for all the ways you can get involved.

It's time for change

www.awayout.co.uk

When A Way Out first began 10 years ago it was nothing more than a small group of people with a heart to reach out and help those most vulnerable in our community.

Just some people - with a cause - and a heart to serve.

Much like the words of Mother Teresa, the dream then was that by being faithful, just doing what we could, we would be making a difference, one life at a time.

Was it possible that our life-giving message of Love, Hope and Freedom could really begin to see Stockton transformed?

Could it really be true that we could reach young people? Could we see girls working on the streets set free from addictions and abuse? Could we become a known voice in the areas around Stockton, helping create hubs for families and communities to gather to seek help when needed? Could we mentor and coach a once-broken generation of young people raising them instead into world-changers? Could we mobilise a volunteer army to serve their town? Could we knock on the doors of families written off by others and place value on them, believing in them and journeying with them to build brighter futures? Could we feed the hungry, clothe the poor, minister to the jailed and set people free? Could women get their children back, could the broken be restored?

Well, today, 10 years on, we are happy to report that the answer - to all of the above - is YES!

From those small beginnings, a youth room in a church on an estate, and a women's drop-in centre in the red-light district, A Way Out is now a thriving and still-growing organisation.

One person who knows more than most how much A Way Out has grown and changed, is Service Manager Anna Mountford. Now in her eight year with us, Anna has just announced that she is going to be embarking on her own season of growing and changing... becoming a mummy!

 "We are really excited about the baby," said Anna, who began working at A Way Out as a Health Promotion worker on a six-month contract seven-and-half years ago. "But I also know that the time is right for me to leave and for A Way Out to bring in the right person who will take the charity to a new level."

So currently we are recruiting for just that person. A new role, the Operations Director, will not only encompass much of what Anna did in overseeing the projects running at the moment, but will help bring structure and management to the wider team of key people.

Click the link below for more information or visit our website for this and other job vacancy information.

http://preview.tinyurl.com/d9lukyy

Anna added: "It's been such a privilege being part of A Way Out's journey. You know, I only thought I would be here for a few months but it caught my heart and it's been amazing - beyond what most of us thought possible - to see how far we have come."

When Anna began a big thrust of the work was being in the community reaching young people, as well as projects addressing the complex needs of vulnerable women sex workers.

She said: "Back then we were running youth clubs all over the place, in schools and really having hands on impact with this thought that if we could see lives changed communities would begin to change. So I'm thrilled that this year we are really focusing on that heart once more and seeing amazing results already."

Even in the last week the first of our Community Wellbeing Hubs, called Food Plus, has launched to not only hand out food parcels but begin to be that place of community engagement where we can meet with families.

The RISE project, working alongside families, is also reporting fantastic results with one family who didn't even have a place for their kids to sleep, now with beds and carpets for their children.

The Youth mentoring scheme, COACH, now has 20 coaches signed up and trained working alongside young people and the youth team working in the Clarences are encouraged by the response to their work in that marginalised community.

"One of the best things about being here for so long," added Anna, "is that for some of the people we work with, it really is a long process to see change come. I can see that now and know we have made a difference."

The women's team shared a story this week of a girl who they have been working with for many years, now healthy and stable, who after lengthy court proceedings, has been given the right to have her child returned to her care.

But what are Anna's hopes for the future, after she leaves A Way Out in August?

She said: "This for me is going to be the most significant season ever for A Way Out. We have new and exciting projects and I hope we can really build on that. I'm hoping we continue to recruit amazing volunteers and I hope this new Operations Director will take us to a new level where we can do more and reach even more people.

"In the time I've been here the issues haven't changed for Stockton. I think we know more and we understand more but that only means we need to rise and be even more professional - as well as continuing to love those people most others wouldn't bother with.

"I'm not ever going to totally leave though... you know that, don't you? This place has my heart. I grew up here. It's just a time of change."

www.awayout.co.uk

Labels and a Life Changed

www.awayout.co.uk

I wonder how many things you have seen today with labels?

Maybe you made a coffee at breakfast? You knew it was coffee because you read the label. Someone, at some point, in a factory somewhere, checked to see what was in the jar and when it was confirmed that it was freeze-dried coffee, a great big label was stuck to the front, there for all to see.

And that's the thing about labels. The jar doesn't decide its own label. It's put there. Everyone can see it. There's very little back story and if you have ever tried to get a label off to re-use a jar, more often than not, you'll discover, it's going nowhere.

It's very difficult to remove a label once it's been given.

Labels.

Today, I interviewed a beautiful woman who is one of our success stories at A Way Out.

If I was to label her, right this minute, it would say 'new and improved'.

Now healthy and clean, free of drugs for more than two years, this courageous woman shared her story with me.

From a young woman who would walk the streets selling her body to pay for an all-consuming heroin addiction, who lost her children because, by her own admission, 'all the drive she had left was for drugs', to a fresh-faced, articulate college student today, is quite remarkable.

But at times the labels given to her have been very different.

Growing up her label simply read: 'from a good family.' Her parents owned businesses, she never wanted for anything.

As a teenager and young woman, her label then might have said: 'likes to party and enjoys drinking.' She would be no different to many thousands of others who carry this one. But this was the one that led to others, much worse.

'Occasionally takes drugs,' replaced previous labels in her 20s, before it too was just a memory and 'hooked on heroin' became a more long-term label.

Except, 'hooked' may have been her choice of words, but 'drug addict' was the label given to her by anyone else.

It wasn't long, in fact, before written underneath 'addict' were also the words 'on the Game', as this beautiful girl became an emaciated, fragile 'object', now going out at all times of the day and night selling herself on the streets, to pay for a drug habit that ate away at her body and consumed her every thought.

But it was in her final stint in jail, where she asked the judge to send her, that the most tragic branding of all would happen.

"I was pregnant and knew I needed to be clean, so when I got caught for shoplifting I asked the judge if he would just put me away," she said.

"I was coming to the end of that when I had to go for a scan and was told the baby had problems. Nobody could tell me if it was because of the drugs, because of chromosome problems that they found, or because some punter had kicked me... but the baby passed away.

"I left prison on the Thursday and had to go to hospital on the Friday with my partner. I had to deliver my daughter."

Born in silence, the couple had to prepare to say a final farewell to their baby girl.

With no jobs and no money the pair pleaded with those around them to help them scrape together the £70 they needed to bury their daughter.

"Nobody would give us the money," she added. "All they could see was a dirty, drug addict and they just thought I would spend it on drugs."

The couple had to have the baby cremated, and despite having no lasting reminder of their child, the label just wouldn't shift.

But that's where A Way Out comes in.

See, we don't just look at a person NOW. We hold up their future and show them what could be.

In John 10:10 (the Bible, from the Message translation) it says, speaking of Jesus: "I came so they can have real and eternal life, more and better life than they ever dreamed of."

And that's why we do what we do.

I asked this incredible lady what difference we have made to her life. This is what she said:

"Back then I had no choices. I mean, I did at the beginning, I didn't have to take drugs. But actually, it's never that simple. After that though, my life just got worse and worse and I had no way of escaping. Everything I did, I did because I was desperate.

Now I am sitting here, and I'm thinking, 'will I be a hairdresser, or will I be something else?' Now I have choices. And I can hope again. I hope I can have a normal life, just like yours. That's because someone from A Way Out was always there, never let me go."

So, on behalf of this lady, to all those who continue to support A Way Out, 'thank you.' Our message of Love, Hope and Freedom really does change lives.

www.awayout.co.uk

Introducing... Food-Plus+

Food-Plus+ is another new project for 2013 at A Way Out!

We will be developing and delivering weekly community hubs across four communities in Stockton-on-Tees. An integral element of these hubs will include the delivery of Food-Plus+, an initiative aimed to distribute nutritious food parcels to those who are in food poverty or who are struggling to feed themselves of their family. Perhaps they're struggling from severe financial difficulties or other unforeseen difficulties, and they need the help which Food-Plus+ can provide.

Each of the four hubs will also provide advice and information on healthy lifestyles and opportunities to learn new skills through related activities and courses, e.g. cookery skills, food budgeting etc. Each hub will be open for one afternoon a week, on a different day, ensuring food parcels and further advice and information is available every weekday, Monday to Friday.

We are already involved in food distribution at A Way Out, but it's really exciting to be offering more help and food parcels to those in food poverty on an even more regular basis. Upping the level of our involvement in distribution of food consequently ups our level of man-power needed! We will soon have a part-time Foodbank Development worker joining us, and at some point soon, we also hope to appoint a Community Hub Coordinator which will be a full time post.

However, this is not enough! We need volunteers to help make these hubs possible!

We are looking to recruit and build teams of Community Engagement Volunteers who can support the smooth running of these hubs. This would involve providing a warm, friendly and welcoming environment, talking to those who come in to the hubs and giving out food parcels, providing teas/coffees and refreshments, giving out basic information about classes and courses that we will run and encouraging people to engage with these activities, signposting people to other services where appropriate.

Would you like to come and join the team?

We have an open evening next week; Tuesday 12th March from 6-7:30pm at our building, the Gate in Stockton if you would like to find out more. Check out this event if you're on facebook.

If you're planning on coming, email kate.mayo@awayout.co.uk or ring our office on 01642 655071. We would love to see you there and to have you on board kickstarting this fantastic project!




With love from A Way Out x