Supporting Lighthouse this Christmas

Yes it's that time of year again, when are thoughts turn to Christmas.

Life in refuge can be tough at anytime of the year but Christmas can be especially hard when you are missing your family and friends.

However fleeing to refuge in the days before, during the festive period or after New Year can be unbelievably hard.

This is why gift cards are a huge bonus to Lighthouse and the support we can provide for those families that are forced into this situation. They ensure that Lighthouse can provide suitable gifts for the women and children that turn to us for help.

Gift cards are used to also buy gifts for women and their children that attend our Women’s Centre for ur therapeitic courses just before Christmas. It is easier to use gift cards as we can ensure the children and women are given gifts that are specifically for them, which can make them feel valued maybe for the first time.

The idea gift cards to buy are: Asda, Tesco, Sainsburys, Morrisons, Aldi, Lidl, The Works, Primark, Matalan, Wilkco, B&M, One4All or Love2Shop. They value of each card should not be more than £10 as this allows us to be more flexible with the use of the cards if we have some left over after Christmas.

During the year we use gift cards to provide perishable food to women and families moving into refuge, as they may not have the finances to support themsleves until Universal Credit can be applied for which can take 4-6 weeks to come through. They are also used for school uniform and stationary for children starting at their new schools. They provide new clothes to women and children who arrive at refuge with very little or nothing at all. In the past we have taken in second hand clcothes but to have the ability to give a women £20 on gift cards so that she can buy something that fits properly and she has chosen, starts to give back that feeling of some form of control over her own life that may have been missing for years or decades.

If you would like to know more please contact Deb Johnson on 01473 220770 or email deb@lighthousewa.org.uk