Centrepoint: in the bag(s) again
Each year, a bunch of us gets together to pack Christmas gifts for young homeless women at Centrepoint's projects. And we just did it all over again (as you can see here), at their Camberwell project. 14 volunteers. 250 hessian bags. Heaven knows how many tins of Quality Street, and a bakery's-worth of mince pies, but they got us through a really physical day's work, putting the bags together. At one point, a young woman from the project came out and spoke to us. 'I had no idea what goes into these gifts,' she marvelled. But many hands make light work and for many of us, it's a highlight of the year. (Our youngest 'helper' was Harry, who's just a few months old, the son of Sisley PR and 'Make A Difference Makeover' committee member Sarah Duguid.)
And the bottom line is that on Christmas morning, the young women will wake up to a fantastic goodie bag which, for many, will be the only present they receive this year.
Sorry if we we can't list everyone (the list is almost endless) but brands who've been generous enough to donate to the young women this year include Elemis, Aromatherapy Associates, John Frieda, Nails Inc, L'Occitane, Smashbox, Ojon, Revlon, Liz Earle and St. Tropez! We'd LOVE to be flies on the wall to see what they all look like in their fantastic false eyelashes, meanwhile...
Big thanks, too, to 'British Beauty Blogger' Jane Cunningham for her hard work getting to brands we hadn't managed to reach, who added to the mountain of boxes we unpacked, then repacked.
Centrepoint - patron Prince William - is one of the key charities we are delighted to support through Beauty Bible. If you'd like to make a donation to their fantastic work, just click here. Throughout 2014, we'll continue our 'makeover' workshops with these young women, arming them with life skills, confidence and self-esteem.
But we'll be thinking of those girls, on Christmas Day. And smiling - knowing they'll be doing the same...