lydia davenport
lydia's giving up coffee to raise money for One25
Fundraising for One25
Story
Dear lovely friends,
I work for a charity called One25, a charity that seeks to enable women who are abused and trapped in a life of street sex-work to break free from this abusive lifestyle and achieve their full potential and to make healthy life choices and foster positive relationships with their families and communities.
The thing is, the recession and the opening of Naomi House has hit us hard and we're having a funding crisis. One25 have launched an appeal to try and raise £50,000 by May 2010, which would go some way to sorting us out. Naomi House, where I work, is a residential family unit providing intensive, therapeutic and practical 24 hour support to pregnant women and mothers with babies where maternal substance misuse and risk from sex-work has been a problem. It's a safe haven, enabling the mums to change their lifestyle while equipping them with the skills they need to provide a stable, caring home and give their babies a better start in life. It's an amazing palce to work and it's a privelege to see hope entering the lives of people who thought they were at a dead end.
Anyway, I really wanted to do something to raise money for this cause- not just because it's where I work but because I really, really think the work One25 does is amazing and because, as a Christian and a feminist and a woman and well, a human being, I feel a duty to do what I can to break the cycles of abuse, violence and addiction that we see too often in out society. And so......I'm giving up coffee. Until May and until we've raised £50,000. Those that know me, know how much I LOVE coffee. I NEED coffee. I WANT coffee all the time. And don't think I'm giving it up for health reasons, I'm not. I'm giving it up because it was the only thing I could think of to do to raise some money...
So, I ask you, dear friends.to give some money- sponser me and make this caffeine-free hell worthwhile...or maybe, consider giving up your daily Starbucks and giving the money you'ld save to One25.
Much love,
Lydia
p.s.
The website is here......http://www.one25.org.uk/
And here are some statistics about the women who access our services to get you thinking:
99% are addicted to one or more Class A drugs and/or alcohol
In 2008 we recorded 134 violent incidents reported to us by the women including domestic violence, rape and armed attacks
All suffer from chronic physical, mental and/or sexual health problems and half suffer from acute ill health*
66% are homeless *
62% were abused as children*
38% have been through fostering or children’s homes*
46% went through the criminal justice system in 2007
32% left school at 14 or younger *
Their age range is 17-49
65% have had children but 79% of those have had their children
removed from them
Only 1% of violent incidents against street based sex workers
results in a conviction**
* Jeal, N and Salisbury, C (2004) @Self reported experiences of health services among street based prostitutes’ British Medical Journal 65 pp 123
** (2001) ‘Violence against sex workers’ British medical Journal 332 pp524
I work for a charity called One25, a charity that seeks to enable women who are abused and trapped in a life of street sex-work to break free from this abusive lifestyle and achieve their full potential and to make healthy life choices and foster positive relationships with their families and communities.
The thing is, the recession and the opening of Naomi House has hit us hard and we're having a funding crisis. One25 have launched an appeal to try and raise £50,000 by May 2010, which would go some way to sorting us out. Naomi House, where I work, is a residential family unit providing intensive, therapeutic and practical 24 hour support to pregnant women and mothers with babies where maternal substance misuse and risk from sex-work has been a problem. It's a safe haven, enabling the mums to change their lifestyle while equipping them with the skills they need to provide a stable, caring home and give their babies a better start in life. It's an amazing palce to work and it's a privelege to see hope entering the lives of people who thought they were at a dead end.
Anyway, I really wanted to do something to raise money for this cause- not just because it's where I work but because I really, really think the work One25 does is amazing and because, as a Christian and a feminist and a woman and well, a human being, I feel a duty to do what I can to break the cycles of abuse, violence and addiction that we see too often in out society. And so......I'm giving up coffee. Until May and until we've raised £50,000. Those that know me, know how much I LOVE coffee. I NEED coffee. I WANT coffee all the time. And don't think I'm giving it up for health reasons, I'm not. I'm giving it up because it was the only thing I could think of to do to raise some money...
So, I ask you, dear friends.to give some money- sponser me and make this caffeine-free hell worthwhile...or maybe, consider giving up your daily Starbucks and giving the money you'ld save to One25.
Much love,
Lydia
p.s.
The website is here......http://www.one25.org.uk/
And here are some statistics about the women who access our services to get you thinking:
99% are addicted to one or more Class A drugs and/or alcohol
In 2008 we recorded 134 violent incidents reported to us by the women including domestic violence, rape and armed attacks
All suffer from chronic physical, mental and/or sexual health problems and half suffer from acute ill health*
66% are homeless *
62% were abused as children*
38% have been through fostering or children’s homes*
46% went through the criminal justice system in 2007
32% left school at 14 or younger *
Their age range is 17-49
65% have had children but 79% of those have had their children
removed from them
Only 1% of violent incidents against street based sex workers
results in a conviction**
* Jeal, N and Salisbury, C (2004) @Self reported experiences of health services among street based prostitutes’ British Medical Journal 65 pp 123
** (2001) ‘Violence against sex workers’ British medical Journal 332 pp524