We were weaving ivy strands to make Christmas wreaths when one of our beneficiaries said something very profound:
“Christmas reminds me of what I don’t have.”
Christmas is a struggle for most of the people we support for this very reason. It is a time when adverts, films and social media are feeding us images of a warm family-centric celebration oozing an abundance of food, presents and love. It is an ideal that no real Christmas attended by real people can ever live up to. But what happens when you can’t afford the heating bill let alone presents? Or when your family is dysfunctional or even abusive? Christmas magnifies that feeling of disenfranchisement – of being stuck on the outside in the cold while everyone else has life “sorted”.
At Just Caring we try our best to be there for everyone we support through this difficult time of year.
A key purpose of our group activities throughout the year is to nurture a warm welcoming atmosphere not just between us and our beneficiaries but enabling them to encourage and befriend each other. This really came into its own at our 2019 Christmas Dinner. We had a record number of people attend and it was fantastic to see how those who came were able to celebrate and enjoy the meal together.
We also make sure that everyone we support has a bag of presents, though we suspect that most of them were opened before Christmas!
Thank you to everyone who supported us over Christmas 2019. Whether by sending our Christmas cards, buying presents to raise money for our work or by praying for us, your help has enabled us to be there for everyone we support through one of the darkest times of their year. We hope that you will continue to walk with us through 2020.
