Darlington charity seeing first-hand the struggle that families are facing
First Stop Darlington says even full time workers are finding it hard
A Darlington charity has been telling us how tough it's been this year supporting families in need.
First Stop says they're on the frontline seeing first-hand the struggle that many are facing in the area.
Tracy Freeman, chief executive, said: "There were families who were perfectly fine, were totally living their lives, weren't relying on any benefits, and then nothing. Everything just changed. A lot of people lost their jobs in Covid and a lot of people didn't bounce back from that very well.
"Households went from two full time workers, perfectly providing for everything they needed, and now they haven't got that same income anymore. They're trying to balance all these plates and they're all just toppling down because they can't afford to live the life that they lived.
"They're trying to come to terms with the life that they've got and it's hard because their vision of what they would be providing for their children has been whipped away from them. It's been hard to watch them and to try and coach them through, and what they can do and how we could get them back to where they are, but it's been tough."