count your blessings

Christmas is always a time for saying thanks and receiving presents, but that's only if you're lucky. I was listening to the radio earlier today and it said that in Manchester, where I live, there's around 150,000 families that earn 60% less than the national average. I literally couldn't believe it. Hundreds of thousands of children living in child poverty, struggling to live really upsets me.

Image from WeHeartIt - edited by me

These families (often with young children) receive less than £17 a day. That £17 we usually spend on ONE MAC blush or even more than ONE new Benefit mascara, but for those people, it needs to pay for food, rent, heating and electricity. Food which they need, rent that they need to pay, heating that they need to keep warm and electricity for simple things like lighting. 

I'm a high-end makeup lover, but this does really put things into perspective. When buying makeup, I think "Oh, it's only a tenner - it's a bargain!" but that's over half of these people's daily budgets. It's strange to think that a 10 minute drive from my house could be like this and the parents are struggling to pay for their kid's Christmas presents.

When you're next shopping, try and pick up just one spare toy, as little as £1 or £2 and donate it to one of Key 103's donation drop-off points. There's even one in the Trafford Centre where you can drop off any donations whilst you're Christmas shopping. All of the toys can be donated from the 28th November and all of the toys you donate will go to disadvantaged children in Manchester and will just help to make their Christmas a little bit better. To read more about donating toys, please click here.

Elise

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