UK wide, there are thousands of Emergency Service and Armed Forces personnel and their families who have spent their lives supporting us and keeping us safe; they are often hidden, unremarked and trying to get on with their lives. The cost of living crisis has profoundly affected their ability to do so; this on top of the isolation and loneliness they often suffer means that they need face to face support to reconnect with their families, their communities and get their lives back on track.
We support over 2000 veterans with complex problems, and have a constant stream of people asking for help. These pleas come from every background and Service; the police, the military, the fire brigade, the paramedics, the coast guards many of whom have dealt with unimaginable situations. Quite simply, trying to deal with the cost of living crisis on top of past trauma is causing relationship break downs, heightened stress and fear, budgeting crisis requiring food, housing... and help.
FirstLight Trust is able to provide long-term support to those who come to us; often the initial ask - food, petrol (to cover costs of driving to work), assistance with budgeting hide longer-term issues. These long-term issues cannot be addressed until the short-term ones are solved. For that we need funds to put food on their tables, support their continued employment (funds for fuel/travel costs) to create the time and space to work, face to face, on finding long-term solutions.
This project would enable us to support directly an additional 60-70 veterans plus their families lead a less chaotic lifestyle. It will enable them to create a more stable life, improve their financial health and wellbeing and start to reconnect with their friends, family and community. Indirectly it will help support '000s more who access our cafe hubs for help with loneliness, isolation and to reach out to others within their local community.
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