SPONSORED ROUGH SLEEP - Saturday December 1st 2018.

Each year we step up the We Shall Overcome work to cover our "Twelve Aims For Christmas" - helping some of the most vulnerable in our community.....this is funded by donations and raffles at the WSO Christmas gigs supported by some incredible bands who help us to make a difference to the people we are helping as well as by our annual Sponsored Rough Sleep.

So here we have our twelve aims for 2018 WSO Christmas.

1) Christmas Dinner for The Homeless - this year we are hoping to provide all the makings for a full Christmas for thirty homeless men who are supported in emergency B&B accommodation by the incredible team at Greystones Homeless Project. In addition to which we aim to provide a Christmas gift and card for all ninety men accommodated across the project.

2) Toys and care packages for Homeless Children - we are awaiting the final numbers for this, but we anticipate that this will be in excess of 150 kids this year again who are in emergency accommodation with their families across Tameside. We aim to provide an age appropriate gift for every child again this year.

3) Tameside Animal Shelter - we aim to provide food and toys for every animal in our local animal shelter - they struggle to make ends meet all year round as more pets are made homeless - even the animals suffer under Austerity!

4) Infinity Initiatives - one of our closest links is with Gemma Louise Whittaker and the incredible team at Infinity Initiatives - we aim to provide food and treats for the hampers they make up and give out to so many local families in trouble across Tameside this Christmas.

5) Anthony Seddon Fund - we will be working with Donna Thomas and her brilliant team to offer support to the long stay mental health wards at Tameside General Hospital again this Christmas - many of the patients have nobody visiting and while they do get Christmas Dinner - there are none of the extras that make it a special day - so again we aim to provide gifts and treats to help the nurses and staff give their patients all those extras.

6) Emmelines Pantry - another of our closest links is with Karen Wilson and the ladies who work so hard to make a difference to women and families across Manchester week in and week out - we will be supporting their appeal with a gift card from Asda to allow them to buy specific dietary requirements for the women they support - often victims of domestic violence and poverty.

7) Our homeless lads and lasses - we will be making sure that every homeless person who comes to us each day for their packed lunches and support has a Christmas care package and gift, card and special packed lunch on Christmas Day.

8) Street Treats - another of our closest links is with Daryl Pollitt and the Street Treats team who provide a weekly street kitchen for the homeless in Manchester every Thursday - we aim to provide them with gifts and supplies for their Christmas soup kitchen and annual drawstring bag appeal.

9) Birchfields Christmas Tea - each year the homeless children in emergency accommodation in Ashton visit the elderly residents at Birchfields Supported Accommodation to hold a special Christmas tea with carol singing and treats - we will be supporting that with supplies for the tea and small gifts for all the older folk, many of who again have no families to make sure that Christmas is special for them.

10) Family Hampers - we will be making up Christmas hampers for the homeless families in emergency accommodation in Mossley - the other emergency provision is covered by local foodbanks who do this for them, but the one in Mossley falls outside the catchment areas, so we will be making sure that they don't get left out.

11) Christmas Hampers here - we will again be making up Christmas Hampers for a dozen elderly, disabled or otherwise isolated people we support from here at The Station - most of these again have no family apart from us - so we will make sure that each also receives a personal card and small gift.

12) Christmas Food Parcels - each week we make up around a dozen food parcels here at The Station - these are distributed from here and also by Tameside Against The Cuts - for the Christmas week we will be stepping these up to ensure that they include all the extras that make Christmas Christmassy.