With 1 in 3 children in the UK facing poverty this Christmas*, parents will be forced to make choices that they should never have to make, like going without food so their children have enough to eat. Without emergency food aid, many parents and children will go hungry.
Your gift today could provide vital food aid to a family like Jade’s in urgent need this Christmas.
I was struggling to afford warm, nutritious meals to fill my kids’ tummies. I always made sure my kids had something to eat, but sometimes this meant going without food myself. Generous CAP supporters like you made sure my family didn’t go hungry.
Jade, mum-of-three, now debt free
Jade’s story
Jade: You cannot sit there and tell me that God doesn’t exist, because it’s completely transformed my life and everything about it.
I got myself into an interesting relationship. There would be times where he would say, ‘Oh, I’ll pay this bill, so don’t worry about spending that right now.’ And then it would get to when he got paid and he wouldn’t pay the bill. I struggled to sometimes know what was more important. Was it paying off this bill, or was it feeding the kids? But every single time, feeding my kids trumped paying a bill.
Obviously that would rack up, which wasn’t a nice feeling. There was times where I was stood in the kitchen and I’m like, ‘Lord, I’ve got nothing.‘I decided that I’m going to, I’m going to call some people and I’m going to get this sorted, and I’m not going to live like this anymore.
And the first person I called basically said to me, ‘If you can pay an extra £100 a month, that would be great. And then, you’ve got another one here.’ And I was like, ‘Another one? How am I going to afford Christmas? Like, how am I going to afford food, by giving you £200?’ I remember just being like, ‘I can’t do it. I can’t, I’m done, I can’t!’ And he recommended CAP.Little does that man know today, he completely saved and transformed my life.
I ended up phoning CAP and it was, ‘Do you need food? Are you – do you need this? How are you doing for this? We can get you a top-up.’ Instantly, like, ‘How can we help?’ I’m like, this woman doesn’t even know me! I’m just like. It was just, oh, no, these people are here to help and they are going to help me and I’m ok now. It was wonderful.
Ben: The food aid had a tremendous impact on, on Jade and the family. I remember she could go and get some shopping for her and the children and we covered the cost of it and it was reassuring to know that her children and Jade herself was going to eat well that week.I’m so thankful that CAP had the scheme available to us.
Jade: It felt freeing and it just was one less thing I had to worry about. Just being able to – the kids go, ‘Can we have this for dinner?’ And being like, ‘Yeah, yeah we can actually!’
Layla: My favourite meal is spaghetti bolognese! It fills my whole body up with excitement.
Jade: I can see the difference, they are happier and healthier and have a spring in their step. So, it’s lovely.
Margie and Ben came, on one of their visits, and they asked me how things were going. At that point, my son was really struggling. He had some medical issues and they said, ‘Oh, well we’ll pray about it.’ And I was like, ‘Okay?’ That next day, it just stopped and it was a noticeable stop. Like, he had suffered for two years – in pain. They’d prayed and my son was healed?
Before CAP to my life now, you cannot sit there and tell me that God doesn’t exist because it’s completely transformed my life and everything about it. It’s positive and I’m excited for Christmas, doing really, really well with my money. I’m excited to, to be together with our new family and just, presents and laughter and – and Jesus. That’s, yeah. It’s exciting!
Jade, and her three kids, Jacob, Layla and Lucas: Merry Christmas!
Jade: Thank you so much for your support for myself and my children. But the reality is, many more parents and children will go hungry this Christmas. So please, will you consider helping?
