Supporting People Through Tough Times

Individuals, families and children are affected every day by financial hardship and poverty. The impacts of poverty are broad and can affect housing, health, education, relationships, mental health and access to services.

“Anti-Poverty Week encourages us to reflect on how people in our community cope in the face of financial hardship. We also need to focus on practical solutions,” said Anglicare NT CEO Dave Pugh.

“Anglicare NT services assist individuals, families and young people who are at risk of homelessness or need help to manage debts. We provide support programs for children and young people, financial counselling services, low interest loans and second-hand shops that sell affordable clothing and homewares.”

“When people are relying on a low income to feed, clothe and house themselves and their family, every dollar counts.”

Through the Money Matters service, Anglicare NT empowers people to take control of their finances. Sarah, a 27 year old stay at home mum from Darwin says the service helped turn her life around.

“Coming to Anglicare NT was a jump-start in life for me. If I hadn’t got help, I would probably be in the same situation I was before”, said Sarah.

When she first sought assistance from Anglicare NT, Sarah was pregnant with twins and wanted to purchase her first car so she could travel to her antenatal appointments.

“I’d been declined a few times for finance through car yards and other places and it came to the point where I was pretty desperate to find a car,” said Sarah.

“I rang around and talked to a Money Matters case worker from Anglicare NT. She helped me get together my ID and then we sat down and she helped me do up a budget and ordered a credit history check.”

Unbeknownst to Sarah, it was a series of small contracts that she had entered into when she was younger that were preventing her from getting finance.

“I was young and I didn’t fully understand the contracts at the time and they didn’t explain them to me properly. For one contract I ended up paying over $800 over four years for six photos,” said Sarah.

Anglicare NT helped Sarah get her finances back in order and taught her how to budget and be aware of the fine print. They also helped her get a loan to purchase the much-needed car.

“It was amazing. I didn’t have to catch the bus anymore! I’ve learnt a lot.”