'The Christmas Dinner' in Teesside to make sure care leavers aren't alone
The group is putting on a special day tomorrow
'The Christmas Dinner' in Middlesbrough and Teesside say they are making sure care leavers are not alone tomorrow.
The group says many adults who have spent time in care as a child have not had a positive experience of the big day and they want to change that.
Jill Ambrazaitis is their lead and introduced the project to the area. She said: "We're choosing to be there on the day to give up time with our own family and friends, so that we can put this on for them because we believe in them and we want to change, for some of them, the negative views that they have about Christmas, because if you've never had a good Christmas yourself then what are you going to reproduce for your children one day?
"They'll have an opportunity to mingle for a little bit and they'll also have an amazing opportunity to select their choice of a handmade quilt. We give them a home cooked three-course meal, we put on some entertain for them, they can watch a movie and at the end of the day they go home with a bag full of gifts.
"Because we work closely with different local authorities and leaving care teams, a lot of the feedback does come through them. What speaks volumes is the fact that a number of them choose to return, so they wouldn't do that if it hadn't been meaningful to them and they hadn't enjoy themselves."
Here is what they did last year:
Find out more on their website.