00:00For many of us, Mother's Day is a day to spend gifting flowers and making or receiving breakfast in bed.
00:06But for some mums in Kent, it's just another day to get through.
00:09There are 1.3 million children living in poverty in the UK,
00:13and 94% of mothers say they feel lonely at least some of the day.
00:18Charity The Princess Project hopes to change that.
00:21Through the community support groups across Sheppey, Maidstone, Gillingham and Tonbridge,
00:25they try to build mums a community while also offering crisis support and parenting resources.
00:31I headed to their Mother's Day celebration in Sheerness.
00:35So the Princess Project offers all kinds of support to mums who just need a bit of a helping hand.
00:40So one-to-one support through befriending, group support through our mums hubs,
00:45which is what we've got happening here today.
00:47A lot of mums are quite isolated, so maybe are living away from family
00:51or don't have many friends in the same situation as them.
00:55A lot of mums struggling with their mental health,
00:58a lot of mums having difficulty with their finances because money is tight.
01:04We also support a lot of mums who've fled domestic abuse,
01:09families who are seeking asylum or refugee families.
01:14Here at the Salvation Army Hall in Sheerness, the Princess Project is expecting 25 mums to show up.
01:20Here they'll play with their children, meet other mums and get snacks and hot drinks.
01:24They'll even get a Mother's Day gift to take away.
01:27Being a young mum on the island way, way back,
01:30to actually come and be able to serve these mums and these children is such a privilege.
01:34Obviously, I've got the compassion, I've been there and felt this and been that,
01:41where you feel that perhaps you don't fit in because you are a young mum,
01:45and to have that community time and just have that chat with other people.
01:51So, we really, really love Mother's Day at the Princess Project.
01:55We really love and value every single mum who comes through our doors.
01:58And I think it's a really amazing opportunity for us as a Christian charity
02:02to really extend the love of Jesus.
02:05And we make up little gift bags.
02:07We have amazing volunteers who make those up with us, for us.
02:11And they, yeah, usually the things that have been donated, which is amazing.
02:16And we gift those in the hope that that just shows our mums how much they're loved.
02:22Sometimes the gift bags that we give may be the only gift that they're given for Mother's Day.
02:28And so, we just love to do that to show how much we value the mums that are part of
02:33our community.
02:34For some of the mothers here, their gift this Mother's Day will be the community they build.
02:38Chloe Brewster for KMTV in Sheerness.
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