Life changing

“I’m a human being. I’m ready to re-join the race.”

After the murder of his dad and a relationship break-up, Steve, 49, had a breakdown and ended up homeless on the streets of Brighton. It was Christmas Eve.

He’d spent years in an abusive relationship and was working 90-100 hours a week, 365 days a year in a stressful job. One day, everything changed and before he knew it, he was out of work, his relationship broke down and he had nowhere and no one to turn to. “Christmas Eve 2014 was my first night out; I spent three days sleeping outside Waitrose. I was 6.5 stone, totally numb and couldn’t believe I was in this situation. I couldn’t see a way out of it and battled with suicidal thoughts.”

Thanks to you, Steve found the support he needed at Brighton Housing Trust (BHT) and has turned his life around, “I’m a human being again and I’m ready to re-join the race” he says.

Steve’s passion for heritage has led to all sorts of opportunities, including taking members of the public on the BHT Heritage trail. “Representing BHT gives me a huge sense of pride and the great feedback from the public has been a big confidence booster.”

“The last 12 months have been a total rollercoaster. I still have dark days but my mental health has improved. I’m starting to look ahead and plan for the future; something I haven’t done for a long time.”

Thanks to you, around 20,000 people a week are enjoying the benefits of volunteering at projects supported by National Lottery funding.

The National Lottery has been changing the lives of winners and supporting good causes across the UK since 1994. In that time, there have been more than 7,000 new millionaires created and by playing The National Lottery you raise over £4 million for Good Causes every dayΔ.

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