187 - Storage solutions for family - Dec 2024

With donation 187 we have been able to help a family nominated by one of our members.


The family of 6, E, N and their 4 children,  have lived in a two-bedroom council property for the past five years. 

 

After the birth of their first child, E suffered with post-natal depression. N had to stop working to care for her and their baby. The post-natal depression remained an issue following the birth of their second child and N had to remain at home to care for E and the young children.

 

During the time that N was unable to work, the family started to fall behind with their rent building up substantial rent arrears and struggled to make ends meet. As soon as he was able, N returned to work and has worked full time ever since in a bid to try to lift his family out of financial hardship. Despite N working all the hours available to him and a top up from UC, the family remain in financial hardship.

 

The family have not had any spare money for years and, as a result, the things that they have needed to spend money on to make their home function well have not been possible. They have very little furniture and what they do have is very old and many things are broken. E and N have to use the living room as their bedroom and sleep on the sofa every night. The baby sleeps in the living room with them so his cot is in there too. There is no furniture for storage in the house and, as a result, the house disorganised with piles of clothes and other items that do not have a home. E finds this very difficult to manage as she feels as though she can never get on top of the house. This has a negative impact on her mental health and the way that the family functions. E worries about the impact that the home environment is having on the children’s wellbeing and that she is not able to teach them some of the more simple skills like tidying up after themselves.

 

Our member asked if we could fund some storage units for the family to help organise things a little better.  Their requests were so minimal we had to encourage them to get enough and have sent them £500 to buy the items requested and a little extra to help them out at this difficult time of year.

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