Well as we draw near to the end of another year it’s always good to reflect on the year gone by.
For the world we have seen many bad and terrible things and personally too we may have been touched by tragedy and grief, so as I reflect on the last year at CitD I’m trying to see the good, the joy, and the positive from the negative and celebrate what has been achieved over the past 12 months, so to start with I say thank you because we are still here 18 years later doing what we feel we are called to do and we must remember as a Christian based organisation to thank God for all we have and that includes you our supporters!
We have had many great experiences along the way, old friends have moved on or gone and we celebrate their lives remembering them with love and happiness but all this is tinged with sadness too!
Because of the work we do and the lives we touch there is very often sadness but there is also a joy and a happiness that comes when we reach out and touch lives that may have otherwise gone unnoticed or untouched.
For instance last year we saw our first summer holiday (Voliday) by the Black Sea with many of our young people going to the beach and into the sea for the first time. I know Beth was moved by this experience, on the first day we got there she took a moment to compose herself as the children and young people played in the waves and on the beach for the first time ever on their first evening there was an excitement and joy in the air…for one young man it was to be his only week by the sea! Unfortunately, Raymond died two weeks after this holiday but he died having had one of the best weeks of his life spent with his friends, some that will go on to have lives limited by their illness and some that may join Raymond in the coming years!
Yes it’s a roller coaster ministry or job but we continue to serve these children and their families because that is what we are called to do!

This year too we had a really successful Christmas shoebox campaign which I said I would write about on my blog but as it was so busy I never got time to do it.
Every year I say it and this year was no different. It is simply brilliant to see the joy and happiness that the shoeboxes bring from Casa Lumina to Poiana Negustorululi and every person in between its a real time of Christmas giving and made very special by the volunteers that come out each year and this year was just great. Thanks Guys.

Well next year many things are already planned. In February we have our first Ski Holiday the older guys on our hospice programme along with a member of staff and three brilliant volunteers, one of which Rob Mansell is travelling all the way from Canada to help teach the young people to ski! We also have Steve Higgs a local (Colchester) ex army ski instructor coming too plus Jack Davies one of our ex Micro Gappers making a swift return to help with the young people and now with all the young people sponsored it’s time to sharpen my own skiing skills as I spend some time here in Canada with my friends Rob, Ann and Luke Mansell Ward who share their home and hospitality with me over the next few weeks.

May I take this opportunity to say a huge thank you to you all for either volunteering, donating or sponsoring us on a regular basis because without this support we cannot continue to carry out our much needed and growing work with the children, young people and families that we as ministry reach out to in Jesus glorious name.
Happy and blessed New Year to you all.
Steve. CEO/ Founder Cry on the Dark.