Charity
Cancer
Research and Crisis are the two charities we support each year. We raise funds throughout
the year using tin collections. Every December we
donate merchandise to Crisis that is given to homeless people over
the Christmas & New Year holidays.
Crisis Open Christmas
2004
Mr
David Wilton
Rowheath
Ltd
21
Warburton Road, Hackney,
London, E8 3RT
22
February 2005
I
just wanted to say thank you for your very generous support to our Open
Christmas event; the biggest in our 33 year history.
As you can imagine, the demands on resources have never been greater and
thanks to the fantastic efforts by donors like yourselves, we managed to run the
event with outstanding success.
The significance of the Millennium Dome as a venue for
Open Christmas was not lost on us. Christmas
at the Dome became a symbol of our need to inspire homeless people to rebuild
their lives. Our motto of “Be
Inspired” led to the Open Christmas taking on a new life.
We had over 1,500 Guests during Christmas week, with many taking the
opportunities offered to secure a brighter future. We recruited over 4,000 volunteers to help us do this – our
highest ever number.
The
Open Christmas is the only place where homeless people can get so much
assistance under one roof, from seeing a doctor or dentist to getting housing
advice or learning new skills in a workshop. For example, Mark joined us after a period sleeping on
friend’s floors and, just before Christmas, he ended up sleeping on the
streets. During the week he was
with us in the Dome, Mark had a haircut, received treatment from the dentist,
obtained new glasses from the opticians and was found a place to live in a
temporary shelter. He also found
the time to help produce the Open Christmas Guest Newsletter.
Since the Open, Mark is regularly visiting Crisis Skylight, our year
round activity centre, where he is exploring the possibility of joining an IT
course leading to a professional qualification.
Mark is also reapplying for his driving licence, to allow him to go back
to work as a bus driver.
Thanks
to the Open Christmas, Mark and many others were able to receive the support and
respect they needed to improve their self-esteem and make a start on the journey
back into society. This was
entirely down to the generosity of donors like yourselves; without all of you,
we would not be able to run the Open Christmas! So thank you once again for your generous contribution to the
event.
In
2005 our work will go on. Crisis
will continue to work with all of our partners to help single homeless people
rebuild their lives. Your continued support is invaluable and I hope that we may
remain in your thoughts in the months and years to come.
Best
wishes
Bob
Evans
Project
Manager (Resources) Crisis Open Christmas
