Supporting families facing hardship
Donation protected
My story started 5 years ago when I ended up homeless. I was placed in a family hostel in England’s Lane, Hampstead. From the outside the street and the area are super wealthy…on the inside it’s a different matter. I was so humiliated by my new circumstances that I shut myself off from the outside world for a year. How had I lost my home, and ended up at the hostel? A brutal, run-down, frightening place! I felt so embarrassed to be bring up my baby in these circumstances and environment.
But when I looked up and saw so many single mums, struggling in the hostel I found a motivation to want to help theses families. The hostel should have been a haven for these women who had already suffered so much - often at the hand of an abusive partner, or an abusive regime they were escaping as a refugee. I realised that what these families often needed above all was a lovingly-made hot meal - and someone to show them a bit of care and support - something the system didn’t seem able to do.
I used my redundancy money to cook for families at the hostel and was supporting up to 20 families at a time from my own pocket, but of course my own funds soon ran out.
That was when I started reaching out to local charities and community groups for support and I have been overwhelmed by the enthusiastic support so many have shown me and my efforts. I managed to raise £16 000 for the families at the hostel and have supported 108 families over the last few years.
I saw first-hand how those donations, the meals and everyday essential supplies we got to the families were a life-line for them. The hostel has now been sold by the council and all the families are being moved out - some to far away places where they and their children have no connections or support.
On top of all the challenges I want to help these families face, this year, like everyone else, they’ve had coronavirus and lock down to cope with. Many families are facing the extra hardship of loss of income and job losses, as well as trying to home school in a hostel and having mental health problems caused by lock-down.
So now I really want to continue to support families like them who live in hostels - single mums fleeing domestic violence as well as others who are in need. I want to build on connections and relationships I have made over the last 5years - with local businesses, local communities and charities who I know will continue to help me carry out this work.
please read all updates to see how we have been progressing.
Thank you
Queeny Singh
Organiser
Queeny Singh
Organiser