“In 2007 I was diagnosed as HIV positive. I’ve had a very difficult time health-wise as I had pneumonia 3 years in a row.
“Last year was a very hard time as I had nowhere to live and no job, and I wasn’t very knowledgeable about benefits.
“I was really struggling – my stress levels were high and my immune system almost non-existent. I was spending months staying with friends and was eating whatever I managed to get, like sandwiches and leftovers. I needed help. The nurse at hospital mentioned The Food Chain and what it does and I said ‘that sounds brilliant’ – I’d never heard of it before.
“As I had stomach and bowel problems, The Food Chain provided me with different options for my diet and sent me recipes that really worked for me.
“The Food Chain was a lovely experience right from the very beginning – the positive energy of all the staff comes through with every phone call.
“I started to recover and feel stronger, and have gained weight. I’ve started working again; my life has turned around.
“It was a blessing to have grocery services like The Food Chain. It comes every week and you can ask for what you want and it gets delivered – who else does that? There are no services like this where I come from, and I didn’t expect this kind of help when things got difficult.
“I don’t have enough words of praise for the Food Chain. It gave me a helping hand that pulled me out of misery. It said ‘here is food’ when I was hungry.”