A Christmas party to remember at Just One Child children's home

Just One Child is a children's home in Gallo Manor started by Cheryl Brooke and her husband, Cliff. These two ordinary citizens were so moved by the plight of an abandoned baby that not only did they adopt that little one, they went on to set up two places of safety that are now home to 30 children.

As is always the case with passionately caring souls, Cheryl couldn't stop at helping just one child but found such a great need for a loving home among abandoned and rejected children that she soon turned her garage into a nursery.

With resources being limited, as this home is funded by the Brookes, the couple try and arrange for the children to be adopted by suitable couples. In the three years that Just One Child has been operating, 30 children have been adopted by foster parents or have been returned to their relatives.

But Christmas could not come and go without Father Christmas having visited this home and thanks to employees at Compuware, an IT software and services company, it didn't. Hein Kern, a sales rep at the company, donned the instantly recognizable, bright red outfit and handed out presents to the children at a sponsored Christmas party. Other members of staff dug into their own pockets plus chased donations from family and friends and added washing machines, microwaves and many other domestic necessities to the Christmas stocking.

Just One Child is busy on a project to fix up a badly run-down nursery school that it bought recently in order to give the children a foundation in education. The nursery school will also assist with the education of 50 youngsters whose parents or guardians cannot afford to send them to pre-school.