YEP says: Charity giving is not just for Christmas

But for others that is not the reality at Christmas and many will live in circumstances where giving and receiving presents is not affordable in their families.

Thanks to the kindness of Yorkshire Evening Post readers and Radio Aire listeners taking part in Mission Christmas, some 25,553 disadvantaged children in Leeds and West Yorkshire woke up with a gift yesterday.

The YEP is always overwhelmed by the generosity of people giving an extra present to an unknown child at Christmas, and we thank each and every one of you from the bottom of our hearts. But we have to also reflect on what those children may miss out on for the rest of the year.

There are nearly one in four children in the UK living in poverty this December. That’s where organisations like Christians Against Poverty come in and demand is growing. As our report today shows, it used to be people on benefits but now they have the likes of university lecturers struggling to pay the bills and they are dealing with an increasing number of people with mental health problems.

We need to support organisations like this to help people, not just at Christmas time, but throughout the year.