It has been a very busy week for us again and our funds are being hit quite hard. That said, we have managed to help quite a few people this week and the following are just a few of the cases we’ve seen. By the way, if you could share our blog, we would be really grateful as it puts us under more peoples noses and hopefully, we can together find more that are wanting to help out. If you would like to make a donation to help us, please click this link. Thank you.
We helped a man who has recently begun to claim Universal Credit. He hadn’t realised that his rent was included in his UC payment, thinking it was paid as it used to be directed to the landlord via housing benefit. Terrified he might lose his home, he paid every penny himself he was able to to the landlord to prevent him being evicted at the cost of not having any money for food or for his energy meters. Our agents had given him food vouchers to help out, but that wouldn’t last him throughout November as well as the rest of this month.
A young man who spent 6 years of his childhood in care, now diagnosed with bipolar, severe anxiety and depression. He has no experience of being able to budget and when he gets stressed he self-harms. Last weekend he discovered he had no money for food, gas or electricity and tried to get help. Our agents said when they visited him he was on the sofa with his dog, both of them trying to keep warm under blankets. He has joined a group our agents have set up to learn how to budget, so hopefully going forward things will improve for him.
We sent £75 to a man who lost his job in early October. He submitted a claim for Universal Credit and made an advanced payment application which he received, but all of that was sucked up by bills. He had received a number of food vouchers but had exhausted his entitlement. His next Universal Credit payment won’t be until the 9th of November, and until then he faced being without food or heat.
We helped a man who had been street homeless. His partner had been offered a place in a hostel, where they can stay for up to six months with a view of finding permanent accommodation. This man had stayed previously but had left with an amount owing and this was preventing him being allowed back in again. We agreed to help out to get him off the streets over the winter, so that he and his partner might eventually be able to get into accommodation of their own.
We received some feedback from this case later that day.
Thank you for all your support and prompt response to the application for funding for D. He has made the £X payment towards his arrears and is now accommodated in the homeless hostel. D is feeling secure, safe and more positive about his future and asked me to pass on his thanks to you.
And finally, a man in his thirties who had been living at home with his parents. He had an awful childhood, examples of which were he was shut in the cupboard under the stairs for hours on end in the dark between the ages of 7 and 16. He finally moved out, and within two weeks had found himself a job, minimum wage, but he moved into a flat that had nothing in it. He lives with being bipolar and ADHD but refuses to take medication, trying hard to understand how to live with the conditions. Our agents went to visit him and commented it was so cold and damp in there that even being back in the office two hours later she was still struggling to get warm, and that overnight it must be extremely cold. He has nothing, no plates, pots, pans, nothing to sit on, no rugs, nor any white goods. She asked if we could consider sending him something so that he could begin trawling the charity shops to see what he might be able to get to help him set up home. In fact, she was so moved by the experience that she got other members of her team to donate items that she could take round to him, such as a kettle, toaster, some pots, pans and bedding. His local church where he is known to them, have also offered to fund-raise to help him buy a cooker. So there are kind people out there and hopefully, the future will look much brighter for this young man.