Excitement fills the whole team. Plans are underway among the drop-in staff to give one woman a special day that she won’t forget.
We all know that one of the best ways to celebrate a friendship and to make a friend feel loved is to give them a great birthday. It is the one day of the year when we are appreciated without limits by friends and family.
A woman trapped in street sex work leads a chaotic life. It is hard for her to accept love. So we plan, bake and decorate for birthday celebrations in the same way that we would with a close friend. Our aim? To make a woman feel extra special. This endeavour is led by our drop-in manager, Rachel, who stresses the importance of celebrating women’s birthdays:
“Being able to think about a woman, and what we can give her for her birthday, that’s my favourite part of the job.”
Lack of self-esteem is often a huge problem for women who face addiction, violence and homelessness in their everyday life.
Just as with any friendship, Rachel and her team think long and hard about which gift to buy. “We want to show love. We want a woman to feel known. We want to get each gift just right, not only so a woman will treasure it but also to show her the strength of our relationship with her.”
On this particular woman’s birthday, the drop-in team have spent time picking out something special that she can have for herself, something of her own. As usual, we have asked the woman to choose the day on which she’d like to celebrate. Sometimes women even request the kind of cake they’d like to be made.
Our team knows that many women are not in contact with their families. Some have never even met their parents. Birthdays connect us with our roots and force us to look at our lives in new ways. Sometimes, when you’ve been through as much as these women, looking at the past can be extremely painful. We can only imagine what a birthday must feel like standing in their shoes.
" "For the last 6 years the only birthday and Christmas cards I received were from One25. Thank you from my heart.""
- Kirsty
