WHAT REALLY COUNTS AT THIS TIME OF YEAR
It’s my birthday, it’s my birthday, I’m gonna spend my mo- …time talking to you nice people. (Cheesy intro but it is my birthday so – just don’t, okay? Let me have this one.) December is upon us, a.k.a the time when marketing departments think it’s definitely 100% time to ram Christmas down our throats at full tilt until the Boxing Day sales arrive. BUY BUY BUY! Realistically this festive onslaught has been creeping at the door since mid-October when sneaky references to gift-buying start to foster the panic and overworked councils start hanging their baubles from lampposts, but the arrival of the twelfth month means we’re truly into the quagmire of carol season.
Whether or not you celebrate Christmas, whether you love it or you hate it, we can all agree that this is a very consumer-driven period for a lot of people. This isn’t a bad thing necessarily – a massive part of the joy of Christmas comes from surrounding yourself with people you love and… buying them stuff. The stuff shouldn’t be the important part, but equally it’s a nice way to show people that you care. It’s also a marker of being a slightly more adult-y adult as far as I’m concerned, since I started Christmas shopping in November, which is frankly unheard of. A combination of an unpredictable freelance paycheck and the fact that I’m turning into my mother. Woo!
While it’s totally fine to celebrate, and a good time to appreciate what you have, there should also be room in our hearts to remember those who won’t be having the same tinsel-covered experience. The number of people sleeping rough has risen by 37% nationally since 2010. In Britain alone, there will be 120,000 homeless children this Christmas. Homelessness looks different in different cases, but however you examine it the numbers are rising - as temperatures drop and cheerful tunes fill our ears, it’s a good time to remember that there are people who have it worse and ways that we can help.
Raising awareness is always key to supporting a cause, but highlighting support resources is harder in a community that doesn’t necessarily have the best access to the internet, social media etc. Supporting homeless charities that have expertise and experience in getting people off the streets either temporarily or permanently is a big help. If you notice someone sleeping rough, especially when it’s freezing out, contact St. Mungo’s to alert their outreach teams who can get out to people and get them into hostels and other accommodations as quickly as possible. One of the easiest ways to do this in London and across the UK is to use StreetLink – if you’re sleeping rough or find someone who is, they can help to refer you to local services who can help. They even have an app. They’re making it so easy to be a good person, you should probably get on board.
If you need an easy in to supporting the cause this month, it’s not too late to get involved with raising money for Shelter; their ‘Slippers for Shelter’ event is happening next Friday 9th December and encourages offices, schools, whoever, to wear their slippers for the day and raise some money as well. Kind of like non-uniform day or casual Friday but with very toasty feet. If you need a bit more time to organise an event in your office environment, bear in mind that giving continues after the Christmas season – consider St. Mungo’s Woolly Hat Day on 29th January 2017 instead.
Here’s to December and all the nice things it brings – heaven knows 2016 could do with a good ending.