Nightstop nomination for Olympic Torch Bearer is through the first selection
“Nightstop Saved my life” - 3 years on, we tell Katie’s story
 Katie came to New Forest Nightstop at 21. She had been homeless for a year after being rejected and abandoned by family. She had been trying to move about staying with people, spending her days in local libraries until they closed just to keep warm. She tried desperately to apply for work but with no home and rising depression she could not achieve it let alone sustain it.
She had no home, no food, no money and no family. She had nothing left of herself and after having suffered family rejection, homelessness, hunger, rape and extreme depression, everyday she would wake up believing it would be her last and a month before coming to Nightstop, she had attempted suicide by overdose.
BUT....Nightstop, in her own words, saved her life! She found a place of safety, acceptance and support. Through staying in New Forest Nightstop, a project run by local charity Community First New Forest, she learnt that she had value and didn't walk alone...
Three years on, Katie is now excelling in every aspect of her life. Her list of achievements is exceptional. She has completed all 3 of the Duke of Edinburgh Awards, she has just received a promotion to Co-ordinator for Catch 22 youth service, received the Prime Minister’s Award for National Civic Service, she has met with Tim Loughton, The Parliamentary Undersecretary for Children and Families and serves on his Young People's Advisory Board and through the National Citizens Service Award, she has been selected to travel to El Salvador this October to work for 10 weeks as a developer for youth groups in local communities.
The list goes on but Katie says, “The whole course of my life changed because of Nightstop. I didn't think I would live to my 22nd birthday but here I am, almost 25 and I wake up each day and can’t believe how far I have come. Nightstop listened and cared. They saw the real me before I saw myself. They literally saved my life and I will do anything I can to pass that on to others, to show other young people that with someone there, believing in you, you can make through.”
Nightstop is the last stop before the streets. There is no other service in the Forest, yet being a charity that has run for 8 years and provided over 1500 bednights, with Big Lottery funding running out in 2012 Nightstop needs to secure a future for the service and these vulnerable and unwanted young people. If you can help in any way, whether through funding or fundraising, volunteering to be a host, driver or support volunteer, promoting the service or you have skills and talents you want to invest in their future please contact Jude Todd, Nightstop Co-ordinator, at Community First New Forest on 01425 478391 or nightstop@cfnf.org.uk
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