Tony & Luke
Since I became a single parent when Luke was 2 years old I found myself getting gradually into debt. I found it really hard to bring up a child by myself as a single bloke especially trying to manage the money as well as wanting to do the best for my son.
Every time I tried to do something to make it better it just seemed to get worse. I got evening work to get some more money, but I actually ended up worse off. I had to pay for babysitters and I didn’t realise that I would lose a lot of my benefits so I got slapped with a council tax bill I wasn’t expecting. I also had a debt with my bank, which I was paying £5 a week for, but every month they charged me a £28 admin fee, so the debt just kept getting bigger.
It all became very stressful and I started to suffer from panic attacks, usually after getting the post with another letter from the bank threatening court action. They just kept on coming but I didn’t know what to do.
Then I saw a poster about CAP so I booked an appointment. Paul (CAP Bridlington) sorted out a budget for me and talked to the bank. I knew that if I made the right payment every week to CAP it would all get sorted out, which was a big relief. I will be debt free in two years. I can now buy presents for my son for birthdays and Christmas without having to borrow the money and we were even able to go on holiday to Butlins for a few days too.
My panic attacks have stopped. I used to not be able to sleep at night because of the stress, but when Paul first came he prayed that I would be able to sleep and I could do after that. I suppose that and other small things encouraged me that maybe God was interested in me, so when Paul asked me to go on an Alpha course at the church, I said yes. I also asked if Luke could come. On the Alpha weekend away we both felt God’s presence and at the end of the course I became a Christian and so did Luke. Luke wants to get Christened and has asked Paul to be his Godparent.
I wanted to give something back to CAP so I asked to be a support worker so I could help more people like me. I am also now helping out with the Alpha course by cooking meals.