Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 2:52 pm on 11 December 2019.
Diolch yn fawr, Llywydd. Members will be familiar with the two organisations I wish to draw attention to in this statement today: Urdd Gobaith Cymru, of course, the largest voluntary membership youth organisation in Europe, and the youth homelessness charity Llamau. On 19 and 18 December, the Urdd centre in Cardiff will open up and provide accommodation and serve Christmas lunch to 240 young people aged between 17 and 24 who are involved in Llamau initiatives. These young people may be sofa surfing, in unstable accommodation, maybe trying to leave abusive relationships. Many of them face discrimination and some are at risk of becoming completely homeless this Christmas. Their Christmas with the Urdd may very well be the only Christmas that they have.
Of course, Members will know that Llamau's central belief is that no young person or vulnerable woman should ever have to experience homelessness in Wales—an aspiration that I'm sure we all share, and I'm delighted to see the Urdd coming into partnership with Llamau to support these vulnerable young people. The Urdd themselves are providing resources for the dinner and the accommodation, but they're busy collecting gifts for young people, and there have been some very generous donations. For example, the Football Association of Wales has donated a jersey for each young person attending. But they're still looking for more gifts to make these two events really special, and Members will have received an e-mail from my office asking for any contributions that you can give for appropriate gifts. There's still time to provide those, and, indeed, we'd welcome donations too from members of staff. I'll be collecting donations in the office until early next week, so, if anybody has anything that they can share, we'd be really, really grateful.
Members will also have been invited to attend the formal launch of the partnership, which is to be held—. One of the attendees will be our First Minister. It is happening on Wednesday 18 December, so many of us will be back in constituencies, but, if anybody is around at 11 o'clock in Cardiff on that day, please go to the Urdd and congratulate these two very special organisations on their new and very special partnership.