Troy has found a new passion for life, thanks to your help
Troy* is a hard worker. For 20 years, he worked as a chef, successfully working his way up to a head chef position. A year ago, Troy was struggling with his personal life, and felt the pressure of the job was becoming too much. He became severely depressed and quickly spiraled downward, soon finding himself in a position he had never considered possible – he was homeless.
For a while Troy was sleeping at work, but he couldn’t sustain this. When he left his job, he had nowhere to go. That’s when he began sleeping on the streets. Troy first came to Hutt St Centre in 2017, and was quickly engaged with one of our donor funded Social Workers, who supported him in moving into his own secure, private accommodation.
When we first met Troy, he wasn’t in a good place. He was unmotivated, and didn’t have any goals. The only thing he was sure of was that he never wanted to cook again, something that used to bring him so much joy.
Despite this, Troy’s Social Worker encouraged him to participate in our ever popular four-week nutrition and cooking course, hosted here at the Centre. This experience was crucial in providing Troy with a sense of purpose and community.
Over the four weeks of the program, we noticed Troy’s confidence building and he appeared to have more focus and clarity.
Thanks to the support of donors like you, Troy soon became more stable and began to live independently.
Soon, he no longer needed to visit Hutt St Centre. On his last visit Troy came with a smile, telling us:
"I’ve been working as a chef for the last four months! I’m working six days a week, so I came in on my day off."
Troy was beaming with pride at his achievement, and we are thrilled he is in such a good place now. Like Troy, many people find themselves unexpectedly homeless.
To ensure people can get back on their feet quickly, your support makes all the difference.
Thank you for funding vital programs such as this.
Back to Word from The Street, Autumn 2018
*Names have been changed to protect the identity of people who have kindly allowed us to share their story.