In December 2020, Adot supported the charitable initiative “Christmas Together”. This wonderful event, which is hosted annually by The Tope Project, usually involves a Christmas dinner for between 150 – 200 care home leavers and vulnerable young people. It takes place on the 25th of December and aims to combat the loneliness felt by those young people living in or leaving foster care without a family of their own. The holiday season is notoriously difficult for care leavers and every year the Tope Project goes above and beyond to make sure these young adults have a memorable and loving Christmas. This year they partnered with Hillsong to deliver even more festive cheer to those who needed it the most.
Due to the ongoing Covid-19 restrictions, the event looked somewhat different this year. Christmas Hampers were delivered to attendees across London to their homes, coupled a fun filled online programme, that offered a warm, friendly and care-free environment for care leavers. The hampers included a variety of gifts and also a traditional Christmas dinner to ensure that these young people felt loved and supported, something that everyone should feel at Christmas. Adot donated 200 mindfulness journals from The Positive Planner for the December event to go inside the festive hampers, in the hopes of encouraging and promoting mental well-being for the year ahead.
The response to the event this year, was as ever, filled with overwhelming gratitude and happiness at the kindness displayed by The Tope Project and Hillsong, and their ability to spread joy in the midst of a pandemic was greatly felt by the feedback the volunteers said they received when delivering the hampers.
“One girl was almost in tears because her and her mum had been lining up at the food back because they had no food. By the time it got to them, the food had run out. So they left the food bank with nothing. They were very upset and stressed out. So when we turned up with the hamper and nice treats in the gift bag, the girl and the mother could not believe that Christmas was back on and that they could actually eat!”
“She was completely on her own and when we dropped her hamper she said she is always on her own at Christmas… it’s the first Christmas in her new flat and she was almost in tears.”
“…When he saw the size of the hamper, his first words were quite colourful! He was just really surprised and grateful at how big the hamper was!”
“Thank you so much to you and your team for making my Christmas special! I truly appreciate everything and the volunteers who came to drop off the hampers were absolutely lovely! …Thank you all for making a massive difference to care leaver’s lives.”
Adot was proud to be just a small part of this amazing feat and we hope to continue to contribute to this genuine display of human kindness for years to come.