Dorothy's Story

A widow called us for the first time ever asking for some emergency food, having managed the previous 72 years of her life without ever needing to ask for help until this point.

‘Dorothy’ lives near to the town centre and is unsteady on her feet, and so preferred for ease to collect it from St Mary’s Church.  The problem was that we were not at St Mary’s until Friday and today was Tuesday!    
 
She couldn’t bare to be an inconvenience, telling the advisor that she could wait as she had two tins of soup to tide her over... 
 
Of course, we took a box of food around that afternoon.  She was incredibly thankful as she hobbled out, grasping Tracey's hands with her own, and called her an angel. 
 
The next step was for one of our Income Maximisation Advisors to visit her in her home, and Ann carried out an income assessment and application for Attendance Allowance.  As Ann left, Dorothy was beyond grateful, giving her an enormous hug. 
 
The application has taken several weeks to be accepted, so we’ve been checking in with Dorothy, who remains humble and apologetic for ‘bothering’ us. On hearing that she would now receive £72 a week, she was flabbergasted.  
 
From having two tins of soup in the cupboard, to sum of money which is literally life-changing for pensioner Dorothy; this is the difference that we CAN make for local people, together. For Dorothy at least, there is now some hope for the future.