Whatever the virus brings, the St Luke’s Centre is still making Christmas plans
Amid the uncertainty of 2020 one thing is certain – Christmas will be different at St Luke’s this year. What we are able to provide for our local community may have temporarily changed, but our commitment to providing some festive cheer to locals hasn’t.
Our older members’ Christmas Party and our Christmas Day Party are the benchmarks of the festive season at our Centre, which usually kicks off in early December with our Christmas Fayre when the Centre comes to life with decorations, people, and festive food.
Obviously, there’s no Christmas Fayre this year but we will still be decorating the Centre and blasting out Christmas tunes. Plans are already being made for the members’ Christmas Party, which will take place over three consecutive days, so everyone gets a chance to celebrate at a safe social distance. If we cannot have people at the Centre by mid-December, we will be delivering meals and presents to members locally.
We know Christmas Day will be different for everyone, but how far different probably won’t be clear until a week or two before. We are already planning meals for 70-plus local residents, and if people cannot be at the Centre, with the help of our wonderful volunteers we will be delivering a meal and a present to those who are staying at home. So if you see Father Christmas and the elves around south Islington on Christmas Day please give them a wave.
For now we are offering a daily lunch service for our members which can be collected or delivered to those who cannot leave their house. There is also our telephone befriending service, contacting people regularly to check they are coping. We are also looking at expanding our remote events and activities. Our employment hub offered two remote workshops in November for those in Islington seeking work. Full details on all these services are available on our website (www.slpt.org.uk) and our social media channels
We are running a Christmas Giving Campaign for anyone wanting to support our activities over the Christmas period and bring a smile to the faces of people in south Islington on our JustGiving page: Visit justgiving.com/campaign/StlukesChristmas-Giving-Campaign-2020