Young people benefit from acts of kindness
GIFTS ARE HANDED OUT AFTER THOUSANDS JOIN IN SEWA DAY
CHRISTMAS came early for young people in Derbyshire who are being helped by charity Framework Housing Association, when festive shoe boxes were delivered to one of its centres.
They were give courtesy of Sewa, which is a universal concept involving performing an act of kindness without expectation of reward.
On Sewa Day, thousands of people across the world come together to perform Sewa and experience the joy of giving in its truest sense.
The Sewa Day National Christmas Shoe Box Appeal, a scheme which seeks to collect donations of essential toiletries, toys and gifts for vulnerable children and homeless people, benefited Framework’s Step Up service.
This provides accommodation and support for 16- to 24-year-olds and aims to give them the best possible start in life by offering 24-hour staffed hostels or dispersed accommodation with visiting support.
They also provide resettlement and move-on support for those referred by local authorities, as well as other statutory or voluntary organisations.
The pandemic has brought unprecedented challenges to the
already busy charity which frequently houses vulnerable young people who have experienced domestic abuse or breakdowns in family relationships.
Framework service manager Julia Mellors said: “It’s been a challenging year with Covid-19. We have a lot of young people in floating support living independently and we’ve not been able to offer them the same face to face support, especially in the early days of the pandemic. We’ve had to carry out a lot of work over the phone.
“This time of year can be difficult, especially if you’ve not got family to support you.
“We have some young people
spending Christmas alone. We will be ensuring that all our young people have contact from someone on Christmas Day.
“Thanks to Swadlincote CVS we’ve also been able to provide them with some really nice food parcels.
“The boxes that Sewa Day sent are lovely and will mean a great deal to our young people. They are really appreciated, it’s quite touching.
“Owing to the extra expenses of the pandemic, there hasn’t been any spare cash this year. If it wasn’t for this donation some of our service users would not receive anything for Christmas.
“Our young people are really resilient in difficult circumstances but some of them would not even get a card. Something like this shows them that they’re not alone. The community support really helps.”
Framework is currently part-way through its annual Winter Appeal 2020, in conjunction with the Derby Telegraph and Derbyshire Live, which is continuing to the end of January.
The charity, which also operates in Lincolnshire, Nottinghamshire and South Yorkshire, is hoping to end homelessness by tackling rough sleeping at an early stage.
The appeal is looking to raise funds for the work to prevent rough sleeping by intervening, supporting rough sleepers through street outreach teams and resettling people into long-term secure accommodation and equipping them with skills and extra help to maintain stable independent lives.
Like many charities, income has drastically decreased because of the coronavirus pandemic, but expenditure is rising and the demand for services has never been higher, as people lose their jobs and homes.
Framework is commissioned to work with young people who are homeless or in housing need in Amber Valley, Erewash, parts of Derbyshire Dales and South Derbyshire.
At any one time, Framework in Derbyshire supports about 80 young people in accommodation services and living in the community through its Step Up Service.
From April 2019 through to March 2020, the Step-Up service supported 103 young people in accommodation and 124 in floating support services in the community.