Spending time with family and my children is really important to me right now, as well as seeing the goodness in others. With everything that's been happening over the past months, it's an important time for both.
Becoming homeless is something I never thought would have to me, but the experience has taught me that it really can happen to anyone. The lockdown was the biggest reason for it. When it started, my employer made everyone redundant. A week later the hostel I was living in gave me two days' notice to get my things together as it was closing down. I went from having an income to having nothing overnight. After a few weeks sleeping wherever I could, I was supported into another hostel by Greenwich Council.
Things started to turn around after I got referred to Beam. It really surprised me that there was an organisation like this, because you don't normally think of charities as helping people get into work. You expect them to support people with clothes, food and housing. But when it comes to getting a job, that allows someone to get all those things for themselves.
Beam is helping me to get into work so I can hopefully rent a flat, have my children over at the weekends and get back to having a normal life where I can create a future for myself. The plan is to raise enough money so I can later continue my NVQ and become a qualified engineer. I enjoy hands on repair and maintenance work on motors and other machinery, it's what I'm best at.