For many Christmas is a merry time spent with family and friends. Your home is warm, your fridge is full and you make many happy memories with your partner and children – but this isn’t the case in every home.
Each year hundreds of women and children will spend Christmas at a refuge usually miles away from loved ones, without their belongings and little money.
Most are escaping to save their life, and in some cases, their children’s lives too. Fleeing an abusive partner is a massive risk and takes a huge amount of courage. Most leave with just the clothes on their back, too afraid to even say goodbye to their family for fear of being caught.
This year, Glow will have 38 families staying in their three refuges, based across Stoke-on-Trent, Newcastle and Staffordshire.
Jenny* spent Christmas 2017 at one after escaping her controlling partner who didn’t allow her to leave their home without him. She, and their children, had spent years walking on egg-shells, constantly being told what to do.
“That Christmas in the refuge I finally felt safe” says Jenny “and because we were safe I felt like I could look after my children properly again.
“I could see it in their smiles that Christmas that they were so much happier. We could just go with the glow and let ourselves go. We were finally free!”
This Christmas we’re raising vital funds for our refuges and to help keep them open. 1 in 6 refuges have closed in the UK since 2010 meaning 60% of women and children needing a space are now turned away.
Please help us this Christmas by donating to our appeal. Click here to find out more about the campaign, the importance of refuges and how you can help.
