Volunteers in Cardiff to host special Christmas Dinners for 18-25 year olds that have recently left the care system

Lemm Sissay with John Lewis Partnership Tote Bags

A series of Christmas Dinners has been organised up and down the country for 18-25 year olds that have recently left the care system and have nowhere else to go on Christmas Day.

Christmas is a particularly hard time for many of them who have nowhere to go. This is why Lemn Sissay, poet and presenter created The Christmas Dinner initiative, which is now in its 9th year and is trying to inspire more volunteers and local community support.

Each Dinner will have 50 attendees from local communities and is organised by a steering group of people who come together to make the Christmas Day magic happen.

Since 2013, these amazing steering groups have been responsible for hosting an extraordinary 115 Dinners across the country!

The John Lewis Partnership will once again be providing parcels containing essential provisions to attendees to take home with them. Specifically, each guest will receive two bags of shopping. This will ensure they have store cupboard essentials, such as tea bags, pasta sauce, cordial, long life milk along with some Christmas treats.

In addition to the almost £1m pounds raised this Christmas for the care community by the John Lewis Partnership via its Building Happier Futures initiative, the Partnership has invested a further £70,000 to donate the parcels to attendees at the Christmas Dinners.