Help Camila make it a Kids Company Christmas
A few years ago (when Jo judged the Clarins/YOU Dynamisante Woman of the Year Award) we first met Camila Batmanghelidjh - founder of Kids Company - and instantly became huge fans of the charity's work. So with Chrismas approaching, we'd like to tell you about Kids Company's Make A Christmas to Remember appeal. (Or you can read about it on Facebook here). They've actually created a special 'Christmas party' appeal App through Facebook: log on, go to the Kids Company page (click here) turn on your speakers, and you can hear real children who've been helped by Kids Company recite the 'wishlist' of gifts you can donate.
Kids Company will help 3,500 children across London this Christmas, including those most deprived and at risk - and this, not surprisingly, is the busiest time of year, offering a safe, caring, family environment in which every individual child's needs are taken into account. (Because no two kids - or their situations - are the same.) On Christmas Day, children will enjoy hot food, personally-wrapped presents, Santa's grotto, games and storytelling. They can make puppets and hats, a Christmas mural, or play football - thanks to the 200 volunteers who make a Kids Company Christmas possible.
What kind of difference can it make...? Let 12-year-old Rose tell you. 'One Christmas, Dad completely destroyed our flat: chairs, plates, everything broken, even the unopened presents were trampled and smashed. I remember this bit because I had alway wanted a whistle and I saw it through the wrapping paper all brken. We're told Christmas should be about family and friends, happiness, love, good food, relaxing and presents. But to me, it's been alcohol and fighting. Kids Company Christmas brings me closer to my dream Christmas: a happy family, a lovely spread of food, no worries, people helping each other to cook, decorate and the feeling of being together.'
Over the years, beauty brands like This Works have helped to fund-raise for Kids Company, but we're now inviting Beauty Bible readers to get involved directly with the Make A Christmas to Remember Appeal. We'd like you to share the Facebook page with your friends - or alternatively, Kids Company also need volunteers to pack parcels, so if you can donate some time between now and Christmas, do contact them at Sharon.lees@kidsco.org.uk.
Alternative, donate food or presents by e-mailing christmas@kidsco.org.uk
And from Beauty Bible, we sincerely wish the fabulous Camila and the 3,500 children she'll be helping this year a happy, happy Christmas.