Care leavers from across Oxfordshire have been invited to enjoy a Christmas dinner together this year.
The Christmas Dinner project, founded in 2013 by author, poet, and broadcaster Lemn Sissay, aims to ensure no care leaver is alone on Christmas Day.
This year, the initiative will extend its reach to Oxfordshire for a third time, offering 50 care leavers a "day of kindness and joy".
However, to make this happen, the steering group, a collective of charity leaders, educators, artists, fundraisers, civil servants, and care-experienced activists, need to raise £10,000.
This money will pay for presents, venue hire, food, games, and transport costs.
Oxfordshire’s Christmas dinner is co-chaired by Emmy O’Shaughnessy, deputy CEO of Oxfordshire Youth, and Michelle Johnsson, headteacher of Chilworth House School, near Wheatley.
Oxfordshire Youth, which provides supported accommodation for 18 to 25-year-olds under a contract with Oxfordshire County Council, will manage all funds raised, with any surplus to be reserved for the Oxfordshire Christmas dinner 2025.
One care leaver who attended a previous Oxfordshire Christmas dinner said: "I don’t normally get presents so it’s a big shock, quite overwhelming, I think you’re going to take them away from me."
Another added: "We would all have been on our own at home doing nothing and you brought us all together, and it’s just been amazing."
A third said: “Christmas is so different, I feel so relaxed and happy and it feels like a family Christmas this year.”
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