As Noddy Holder put it so well in Slade’s 1973 hit ‘Merry Xmas Everybody’: ‘It’s Christmas!’ Fairy lights and mince pies, carols and baubles, jingle and ding dong. Yum! But why be content with merely celebrating and getting stuff, when with a gift to a charity you could change the life of someone you’ll never meet. Read, give. Now it’s Christmas

CRESS
(Christian Relief and Education in Southern Sudan)
Refugee school girls in Northern Uganda face many barriers to staying in education; one is the cost of sanitary wear. The inability to manage their periods in school means they miss lessons, fail their exams and then are destined for early marriage and no life prospects.

CRESS offers practical training in RUMPS (reusable menstrual pads). The girls make their own pads using locally available materials and are given the gift of underwear and soap. To train one girl costs just £10, but this can make the world of difference to her life chances; completing her education and hopefully getting a job to help her escape the cycle of poverty she is trapped in.

Find out more and donate at www.cressuk.org/donate-rumps. Call 01722 780789 or text 07807 780707

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First Step
Families usually contact First Step at a moment of crisis, uncertainty and fear, often with underlying concerns about the health, behaviour or development of their child. Alternatively, their child may just have been discharged from hospital with the parents reeling from the knowledge that their child has a special need and/or disability. They may be in the process of receiving a formal diagnosis of their child’s condition.

At First Step, we build long-lasting relationships to support families on their potentially long and difficult journeys, and families often form strong peer relationships which can then lead to many years of friendship and mutual support.

To find out more or to donate, visit www.firststep.org.uk or call 01708 556355

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Shelter
This winter, over 130,000 children will spend Christmas without a place to call home. Mum of two Lily knows only too well how that feels. Evicted after her landlord decided to sell, she and her children spent months being moved from one B&B to another. None of them had cooking facilities. This is not a home, but it’s the reality for thousands of families in emergency temporary accommodation. Thankfully, after working with Shelter, Lily was finally able to move out of these harrowing conditions and is now settled in a permanent social home.

Donate at www.shelter.org.uk/donate and you could help a family like Lily’s find a stable home this Christmas

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REfUSE

REfUSE does all sorts of activities that give value to people, places and food which might otherwise be wasted or overlooked. We loved joining the URC at Greenbelt to create thousands of delicious meals, but the rest of the year is spent running a busy ‘pay as you feel’ café in County Durham. We build community, provide affordable healthy food and supportive work opportunities, and run lots of other activities which aim to engage and empower our local community to be part of the transition to a healthy, more sustainable food system. Your financial support would be hugely appreciated to support our work with primary school children to reduce waste, reconnect with where their food comes from, and enjoy healthy food in their schools.

Find out more about us at refusedurham.org.uk. To donate, go to refusedurham.org.uk/get-involved

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Ripple Effect
This Christmas, twin your garden with Ripple Effect (formerly Send a Cow) and support farming families to overcome hunger and poverty.

By twinning a garden, you could help a family in rural Migori, Kenya, with three years training in sustainable organic farming so that they can grow enough to eat, set up businesses and send their children to school. This vital training will not only put food on the table today but will stay with families so that they can feed themselves for a lifetime.

Your impact won’t stop when you twin a garden. Families share what they have and what they know with neighbours and friends, creating a ripple of positive change.

To twin a garden and receive a growing pack including a wooden plaque to display in a garden for yourself or a loved one this Christmas, visit rippleeffect.org/reform

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Médecins Sans Frontières/Doctors Without Borders (MSF)
Every year, MSF teams carry out tens of thousands of surgeries. From treating war wounds to emergency caesareans and reconstructive surgery, our surgeons are at the frontline of our lifesaving care.

In 2022, MSF teams around the world conducted more than 118,000 major surgeries. In the places where we work, demand for surgical services has never been higher. We need your support now more than ever to provide people with lifesaving medical care.

Please give what you can, and our medical teams will do everything they can. We can’t operate without you. www.msf.org.uk/secure/donate

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Global Justice Now
Much of the world’s research and development of medicines is publicly funded, yet large pharmaceutical corporations dictate prices for vital drugs and push healthcare services, including the NHS, to their limits. This means only highly profitable medicines are prioritised, countless drugs to treat or cure diseases primarily suffered by people in poorer countries are ignored, and pathogens which have the potential to cause future pandemics are disregarded.

By donating to Global Justice Now you can help us use popular pressure to fight against pharmaceutical injustice and continue to highlight the failings of the current system. www.globaljustice.org.uk/pharma-campaign

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YMCA England & Wales
This Christmas, 165 young people will be at risk of homelessness across England and Wales every day.

They could be experiencing domestic abuse or family breakdowns, or loved ones may just not be able to afford to accommodate them any more. With the help of our generous RoomSponsors, YMCA offers them a safe place to stay. £12 a month could support one young person staying at your local YMCA. Please be as generous as you can, as we reach out in love to meet the needs of young people – not just this Christmas, but all year round. Become a RoomSponsor here:
www.ymca.org.uk/roomsponsor-donate

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Embrace the Middle East
The people of Gaza are living through an unprecedented humanitarian crisis. Knowing how to pray in the face of such suffering is so hard.

As violence and tensions continue to increase, please join us in praying for a swift de-escalation of the violence and for peace to prevail.

Our partners frequently tell us that prayers are a source of strength and inspiration. Christians in the Middle East love to know that people across the world are praying for them.

Now, more than ever, your prayers are vital. Pray with us: www.embraceme.org/pray

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The Children’s Society
This Christmas, children can’t wait.

There’s so much that young people are waiting for: adequate support services, action to reform the systems and services around them, across social security, education. But fundamentally, young people are waiting to be heard.

Rosie was struggling with her mental health and in danger of exploitation, but with the help of The Children’s Society she was able to get the help she needed. Your gift could help a child like Rosie to be heard this Christmas and receive vital, life-changing support.

To find out more and donate, visit www.childrenssociety.org.uk/rosie or call 0300 303 7000.

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This article was published in the December 2023/January 2024 edition of Reform

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