A girl who looked more like a child.

“When I opened the door to Rory I could see him peering into the room over my head - I’m not very tall. I must have coughed or something, because he suddenly looked down at me and looked shocked."

He came in and shivered at the cold. Alice said “He looked like a nice bloke - kind eyes."

There was thick frost on the windows and Rory’s breath fogged up in the air, but Alice told him she was used to. “I don’t feel the cold, there was never any heating in our house."

As she told him about herself, Rory realized that Alice’s story included more horrors in her short life than most people would be likely to see in a lifetime. Her case notes read like tabloid newspaper headlines: alcoholic mother; drug-dealing father; forced prostitution; daily violence and neglect."

As a child, Alice had become a carer and a parent to her younger brothers and sisters. It seemed as though almost every misfortune
that a child could suffer had been dumped on Alice.

She told Rory: “I’m not someone who gets down about life too easily,
but the other night I couldn’t help it. I cried and cried. I miss my little brothers and sisters – they’ve got taken into care."

Your gift could get another homeless young person like Alice off the streets this Christmas. Please make a donation.

Despite all of this and having no real home for Christmas, she still had a cheeky grin and she said that she had already decided a long time ago that she wasn’t going to let her experiences ruin her life.

She wanted to get back to school, finish her studies and make something of herself. Rory explained to Alice that Centrepoint could help her. He told her that she could have a room at Centrepoint where there would be other young people her own age. She would be safe and warm, and could begin to turn her life around. She listened and then quietly said: “Yes please."

A home for Christmas at Centrepoint

We gave Alice a room – a bed and clean sheets and the chance to have a soak in a hot bath. She had a proper Christmas lunch with all the trimmings. “We even made sure she got a small gift. She said she couldn’t remember the last time someone had given her a Christmas present."

Thankfully Alice’s story has a happy ending. Over the time she’s been with us, Alice has grown as a person. Rory says he could swear that she actually stands inches taller. She’s been as good as her word about wanting to continue with her studies. Despite her dyslexia, she’s passed her exams and she’s recently managed to get a job as a teaching assistant – helping children is her passion.

She says: “They remind me of me!"

Centrepoint will be giving a home for Christmas to 779 young people like Alice this Christmas. Please give whatever you can. Your donation has never been more needed.