A woman who knows all about the hardship of surviving with very little has found a way to give something back to the community she once relied upon.
Jamie-Leigh Scott and three of her friends have set up the 12 Days of Christmas project to help people in need over Christmas.
When she was younger, the 27-year-old experienced first hand just how important projects like this can be and now wants to help others in the same situation.
Jamie-Leigh, from Easterside, said: “This project is personal to me as I have been in situations where I needed to use refuges.
“People don’t realise that when you are in a refuge you have nothing, so to wake up on Christmas day to just one or two presents is lovely and completely overwhelming.
“The amount of donations we have already received shows that there are people out there who want to help others worse off than themselves.”
The 12 Days of Christmas Project was created after Jamie- Leigh and pals, Tracey Gunn, Carly Smith and Lee Glover saw a Facebook message about helping the homeless during the festive season.
After a quick discussion, they decided they would aim to provide hot meals and warm clothes for those in need between December 12 and 24.
Word soon got out via a Facebook page and the project snowballed so quickly that the friends now hope to be able to offer toys and extend the project past the initial 12 days.
Acklam student, Carly, 27, says being involved in the project has made her see Christmas from a different perspective.
“I am completely overwhelmed by the generosity of people and it has made me think about Christmas in a different way,” she said.
“We have more than 560 “likes” on our Facebook page and it is great to think that it is going to make a huge difference to people’s lives.”
Mum-of-three Tracey, from Marton, believes that the key to the project’s success is being able to work together with existing, similar organisations.
The 36-year-old said: “ There are already some amazing groups and projects out there offering help all year round to those who need it across Teesside.
“We are joining up with them to expand the help available in the hope of reaching more people.
“Social services are also going to pass our information on to families they feel will benefit from the project.
“There are families out there with literally nothing, so they are going to use donations from us to put together some packs so that parents can give their children something at Christmas.”
About 50 volunteers have signed up to help the project over the 12 days but there is still a lot of work to be done before the first day.
Lee, 37, from Hemlington said: “The donations are starting to pile up which is brilliant, but we now need people to come and help us to sort it all out.
“The room is nearly bursting with clothes and toys and we need to have it all organised by December 12.
“We are also short of food donations, which is one of the reasons we started this in the first place, so we hope that people can help out with that.”
A meeting is being held at the Southlands Centre, Ormesby Road, Middlesbrough, on Wednesday, December 3, at 6.30pm, for anyone interested in helping out with the project.
Food, clothes and toiletries can be donated to the Southlands Centre every day between 9am and 4pm. Alternatively people can contact Jamie-Leigh via the Facebook page 12 Days of Christmas.
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