Today, your donation can be that difference
Over 100,000 young people will spend Christmas in care this year. For most, it’s a time for connecting and joining in with festivities, but for the young people in Break’s care, Christmas is often a reminder that their lives are different to others.
This year we have an incredible opportunity. Those 100,000 young people, often hidden away from view, were rightly propelled into centre stage by John Lewis’ Christmas advert. It highlights how the small things really do make the biggest difference and that young people living in residential care or foster homes are absolutely deserving and worthy of every effort to make them feel safe and loved.
This is what we do every day at Break. When life feels out of their control, it’s the small things we can do that make the real difference.
The advert triggered lots of emotions for our staff and young people, and on this page they’ve shared some of those small things that you can make happen through a donation today.
“One great memory of mine is when we took one young person away on a holiday to the Isle of Wight. They were 16 but they told us they’d never built a sandcastle and so we made sure that we did just that. It’s those small little things that really stick in your mind.”
Chris, senior support worker at a Break residential home for children with disabilities.
“I’ve been working with my Transition Worker for a little while now and she’s amazing. I was really busy with college and my placement but she would always pop round to check up on how I was doing. She’s here to support me no matter what, and will keep me on the straight and narrow if I’ve done something I shouldn’t! For my seventeenth birthday she surprised me with some balloons and presents and took me out for lunch. You don’t expect staff to do that for you, it was really lovely.”
Edita, care leaver
£20 could allow us to pop round with a cake to celebrate on birthdays, or take a care leaver out for a bite to eat when we know things are tough.
"Our foster son came to us having experienced violence and neglect in his early years. He was absolutely obsessed with football though, but he played football more like a rugby player! So we suggested to him to try the local rugby club and before we knew it he’d become captain of the team! It did him wonders, helping him to understand discipline, and his confidence just rocketed.
Ten years later and he’s at university studying accountancy, and he’s still playing rugby today!"
Oliver* and Anna*, foster carers
