Katie’s story

For safeguarding and confidentiality reasons, the image displayed is unrelated to this story.

Katie is a Mum with three children. The family experienced a number of severe hardships. One of Katie’s children was suffering very poor health and needed open heart surgery. Their house was damp, with leaking water, and conditions resulted in an electrical fire. The family were then evicted by their landlord.

After spending some time in a caravan, the family were rehoused by the Council but had nothing to move in with. Katie was referred to us by Social Services and her specific circumstances meant we were able to deliver an emergency food parcel to the family.

We are so glad that Katie found the courage to visit us later that week, a massive step that helped us to support her through such a difficult time. Katie shared some of her story with Jaimie (Assistant Project Manager), explaining that she and her children had no clothes besides what they were wearing, no cooker and no fridge / freezer, so Social Services had needed to get involved. Katie later told us what a big step that visit was for her, having been struggling with her mental health because of everything that had happened, but that she quickly felt that “[Jaimie] understood me and made me feel so comfortable”.

We were able to use funding to give Katie a Primark voucher so that she could purchase the clothes that she and her children needed. We also submitted a request to Acts 435 for a fridge freezer and this funding was generously raised by the Acts 435 donor community.

Thanks to support from the Council, and funding we were able to access, Katie’s family are now furnished with a fridge freezer and a cooker. It meant so much to us to receive a call from her, sharing her appreciation for The Olive Branch and the difference the fridge freezer has made - “Social Services are now signing me off as the fridge freezer means they don’t have to worry”.

Katie shared with us that, just as important as the emergency food parcels and support to purchase clothes, was the knowledge that we were there for her and the reassuring conversations she had with members in our team over those weeks. We were deeply moved by her comment, “You are not just a food bank, you’re angels”.

We are so glad that we could get alongside Katie in such a difficult time, and that her family can now settle into life in their new home.