As we approach Christmas time again I am once again reaching out on behalf of The girls refuge to provide a small bounty of Christmas cheer on what I know from personal experience is one of the hardest days of the year to be without family.

In a sleepy Leichhardt street there is a crisis shelter for young women, who for whatever reason, have no place to call home this Christmas.

The Girls Refuge houses, feeds and educates young ladies 12 - 17 years old and helps them to find long term solutions to their housing troubles if they are unable to return home.

For the last 4 years our community has come together to help try and restore just a little bit of joy to these young ladies. While we will never be able to make the day truly magical, we can perhaps give an exceptional gift to a young person we will never meet, and bring them a smile we will never see.

Each year I have reached out to our lovely community we have delivered a staggering amount of wonderful gifts, hand written cards and so much love.

Physical gifts are an excellent contribution but please ensure all items are new and unused, hand written cards are a magical touch, it is important though that cards do not mention anything that may be triggering for someone homeless to read on Christmas day.

Everything given will be delivered to the girls refuge on the days leading up to Christmas.

Ideally all physical gifts are small enough for the girls to be able to take with them, keeping in mind they probably have all of their worldly possessions in a single backpack or suitcase.

The link below is for a GoFundMe campaign, every cent given, plus a chunk of my own money will be used to buy high quality gifts. Every year I buy 6 of each gift and it usually covers the amount of young girls staying at the refuge on Christmas day.

On previous years we have purchased items such as Bluetooth headphones, Bluetooth speakers, oodies, 10 inch tablets, gift cards and much more.

There are photos below of previous year's efforts.

Advice on what is hot for teen girls this year is also helpful.

So, If you have a gift you would like to donate, or run a local business that might like to help out, please get in touch.

Also, I am very busy with work this year so I will probably have a little working bee on the 23rd of December to wrap everything if you would be keen to help out :)

Photos below of previous year's amazing efforts!

Big love!