Patricia and her daughter needed financial support when they were struggling to start their next chapter – they turned to their community for help.

Following a relationship breakdown, Patricia moved out of a family home with her nine year old daughter Aoifè hoping to start a new chapter.

Patricia tried to put on a brave face but felt incredibly stressed. Moving from place to place and financially struggling, they eventually found the right spot but couldn’t afford any furniture. As they slept in sleeping bags on hard floors night after night, they were also hit by another bombshell - Aoifè was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes.

Patricia gave us a call and was provided the headspace to talk about her situation. We found that we were able to pay towards essential household items, enabling Patricia and Aoifè to finally make their house a home.

"I remember Aoifè jumping up and down shouting ‘Wow!’ when her bed arrived, bless her. I told her that we have our very own charity who wanted to help us. We’ve both never forgotten that day."

"The support I received during quite a stressful time, both for myself and my daughter, greatly helped ease the strain I was under – having moved into a new home and basically starting from scratch, in the couple of months leading up to Christmas (which is demanding in itself)."

"Starting my life again was the only Christmas present I wished for and the Charity’s support was more than I could have imagined. It meant that my daughter was a very happy little girl. The Charity gave us a much more comfortable and happier Christmas than the ones before."

Some elements of this story have been anonymised or changed to protect the person’s identity.

How you can make a difference

Your incredible festive fundraising will make a big difference to civil servants when life gets tough.