A father in his twenties of three children, all 5 years and under lost his job just before Christmas and there was a delay in the family being able to claim and have benefits put into payment. This meant that over the Christmas period they were supported by their local food bank who made sure they had food for a family of two adults and three children, as well as some gifts for them to give the children. Since then they have been struggling to manage financially and now the father has been recently diagnosed with cancer. The mother is very concerned at how they will manage financially and mentally, as they got behind with the rent when her partner was off work and before housing benefit came into payment. She wants to make sure that the children’s lives carry on as normally as possible despite their father’s diagnosis. We agreed to send the family £200 to give them a bit of breathing space.