Oasis fills Kids Company Christmas party gap

Hundreds of South London's most vulnerable children given Christmas parties by the Christian charity following Kids Company closure, with Steve Chalke receiving support from Camila Batmanghelidjh

On Christmas Eve and Christmas Day Oasis Church Waterloo held two huge parties catering for around 800 of South London’s most vulnerable children, young people and their families.

It served up Christmas meals as well as putting on lots of activities including Zumba, dance competitions, a cinema, a bouncy castle, a bucking bronco, face painting, games and more. All the families were also given a gift bag including some healthy food, toiletries and games for all to enjoy.

Baptist minister the Revd Steve Chalke, Oasis founder and leader, explained that in previous years this "much needed local service" was organised by the Kids Company.  The charity closed in August 2015.

'Unfortunately, its demise left a massive gap in local provision for disadvantaged children and their families,' Steve said. 'To cut a long story short, we felt that we should step into this breach.

'I contacted Camila Batmanghelidjh because I wanted to learn from her years of experience and she graciously agreed to get involved in supporting and advising us.

'The result is that we have been able to serve some of the most needy families in our area over the last couple of days. And, in fact, there is probably no more an appropriate response for a church as a practical outworking and demonstration of the message of Christmas.

'As we served up the delicious helpings of Jerk chicken I just couldn’t stop thinking about that famous statement from Mary’s song of joy about the birth of Jesus – "He has lifted up the humble. He has filled the hungry with good things". That just about sums up the whole occasion!'