The best way to show you the work we do is to let stories from our work speak for themselves. Each family helped by St Michael has a different story.

Dwayne

“When I first joined up with St Michael’s I was literally… hanging on a string.”

Dwayne is father to an eleven year old little girl. We worked with him about nine years ago. When he came to us, he lived illegally in the UK and was separated from his daughter.

“At the time I was still illegal in the country. I never used to talk to people about my problems or tell people anything, I just kept everything to myself“.

Dwayne came to one of our support groups where he met David, a dad worker. ‘I opened up to him and told him everything that was going on in my life.” We were able to offer him one-to-one support with David, which helped him in different ways.

“From there he took me on board and he helped me out a lot. He helped me to move out of my uncle’s place and get my own place, and that was a life-changing moment for me.”

St Michael’s also supported him in getting custody of his daughter. “I had to fight for my daughter with nothing, had to go to court dates and everything.”

We recently contacted him about our Father’s Day campaign and used the opportunity to check in about how he is doing now. “Since I joined with St Michael my whole life just changed“.

“Fast forward to now, my daughter’s 11, I’ve still got my own place, still going strong, I’m looking after myself better.”

“Me meeting St Michael’s, that was a blessing for me”.

Seeing the parents and children that we helped thrive like this is incredibly inspiring.