For our Christmas campaign this year, we are supporting both Oxfordshire Youth and Asylum Welcome.

Our School Charity for 2023, Oxfordshire Youth would like to gift each of the vulnerable young people they work with in supported housing with a hot water bottle this Christmas. We are asking for donations of new, unisex hot water bottles to support this initiative. They currently have 115 young people they provide trauma-informed youth work support to who would receive these. 

"The young people we are privileged to serve have had to endure childhoods and adolescent years where trauma has been normalised and feelings of loneliness and exclusion become their everyday. At Oxfordshire Youth, we know that these young people are deeply deserving of care, nurture and support. And with those things, they are capable of turning their lives around, healing from their pasts and taking control of their futures. Youth Work is about empowerment, and enabling young people to build their self-esteem, and learn how to develop and maintain healthy and safe relationships. Your gift of a hot water bottle this year is a symbol of your warmth, care, and kindness and we know these are the magic and healing ingredients that can help a young person feel remembered, valued, and cared for. Thank you to all the Teddies families, who have shown tremendous kindness and heart this year for the youth of Oxfordshire. Together, we are creating an Oxfordshire where inequality isn't governing young lives, and instead communities are uniting to level the playing field so that all young people are thriving." - Emmy O'Shaughnessy, Deputy CEO

Asylum Welcome are urgently in need of laptops, tablets and smartphones (with their chargers) that are no longer being used, to help them achieve their ambition of sourcing 500 devices before Christmas in order to combat digital exclusion. These devices will help keep refugee children, adults and families connected, assist them with essential life admin and enable children to complete their homework. In addition to distributing the technology, Asylum Welcome also offer weekly digital IT support drop ins, which are a lifeline to their vulnerable clients. 

“For many of the people we support, their laptop serves as a gateway to the world. It offers them 
opportunities and connections that are essential for their survival and integration. Getting online can 
play a crucial role in combating the feelings of loneliness and isolation experienced by so many 
refugees and asylum seekers. Whether it's an old smartphone tucked away in your kitchen drawer or 
unused IT equipment from your workplace, every contribution, big or small, makes an immediate 
and lasting difference in our mission to combat digital exclusion among the people we support.” Eddie Delacour,  Digital Inclusion Coordinator

Please deliver any donations to your child’s boarding house, where we will collect and distribute. If you have any further questions please get in touch via [email protected]

Thank you for your continued support.