'I went from having a mortgage to being homeless'

A woman who "lost everything" has told how a Merseyside homeless charity has given her "a chance at life again".

Danielle Kasek said she had "nowhere to go and no-one to turn to" after a series of events led to "things falling apart".

“I’d gone from having a mortgage at 19, two small children, a marriage, little picket fence kind of thing,” she said.

“I had a lot of traumas that weren’t my fault, but they impacted me tremendously."

Ms Kasek said life events led her to addiction and she lost all hope.

"One night I had nowhere to go, it was raining, I sat under a streetlamp," she said.

"It was really scary, I had no-one to turn to, and then someone told me about the Whitechapel."

The Whitechapel Centre in Liverpool works with people who are sleeping rough, living in hostels or struggling to manage their accommodation.

“They supported me, which was wonderful, they kept me warm, and they got me into a shared house," Ms Kasek said.

"Then I just went from strength to strength and I was really grateful for that opportunity."

Ms Kasek has now teamed up with a group of grassroots musicians in Liverpool to record a Christmas single for the homeless charity.

Several of the artists involved either are or used to be homeless.

The Whitechapel Centre needs about £8m each year to run its services and it is hoped the song, called Always A Home (For Christmas), will raise funds as well as awareness.

"It's not just about somebody sitting on the streets or living in a tent," Toni-Marie Murphy-Roberts, from The Whitechapel Centre said.

“This year we’re supporting around 5,000 people, and that number is increasing.

“People just genuinely cannot afford to have their own home and sustain it for long periods of time.

“Making sure that we are there 24/7 for these people who are facing such extreme vulnerability is really, really important to us.”

Among those involved in the song is music co-ordinator Jordan Francis who said the charity had helped him when he was in a “troubling time” when he first moved to Liverpool.

“They put me up in a hostel and worked with me. I grew up in care, so they were able to get hold of a social worker for me," he said.

“It developed into a process where I got a flat deposit paid for me. That was four years ago now, and I’ve never looked back."

Ms Kasek said her ambition is for the song to give a message of hope to people.

“If you’re a person who’s having that experience [of homelessness], you’re simply existing, you don’t feel like there’s any hope of a tomorrow," she said.

“I’m showing people that is possible to turn everything around. You can change your life around and there is hope."

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