IN order to help the national children’s charity CHICKS, Jenny Fox, from Launceston, gave up her own Christmas with her family.

The 26-year-old, for the fourth year, helped the charity provide disadvantaged children from across the UK with free respite breaks at Christmas.

Jenny has volunteered at 15 of the week-long respite breaks CHICKS provides at its retreats in Devon, Cornwall and Derbyshire — including four of the charity’s Christmas breaks.

For many of the children, CHICKS breaks are the first ‘holiday’ they have been on. The Christmas break, along with the usual activities, allows the children to enjoy a traditional meal, visit pantomimes and Father Christmas, receive gifts and generally experience the fun and excitement of the festive season which many of us take for granted.

Children aged 8 to 15 from a range of disadvantaged backgrounds often miss out on positive childhood experiences.

While helping CHICKS, Jenny has had an impact on more than 200 children’s lives and has made many memories. One that stood out for her was while helping a young boy to swim for the first time.

She said: “When we went swimming he assured me that he was happy just to stay in the shallow pool but I could tell that he would really like to be able to swim like the rest of the group.

“I let him know that I was more than happy to show him how to swim and after a while of playing in the pool and building his trust I asked him again if he wanted to give swimming a go.

“By this point he had built enough trust to feel confident that I wouldn’t let anything happen to him and he put on his armbands and gave it a go.

“The confidence boost and excitement that this experience gave to this young boy was so humbling and something that will stay with me (and probably him) for many years to come.”

CHICKS chief executive Elanor Hoskin said: “Since she first volunteered in 2009, Jenny has been an incredibly dedicated volunteer; she is a real inspiration!

“Volunteers are really at the heart of CHICKS, and we need over 500 each year to provide our much-needed respite breaks, so we really hope that the dedication shown by our Christmas volunteers will inspire others to get involved in 2016.”

For information on how to get involved visit www.chicks.org.uk