CAPS wins for helping people in debt
Helping people free themselves of debt has brought tangible rewards for the New Plymouth branch of an international organisation.
In a national ‘‘community clip’’ competition organised by The Warehouse, New Plymouth’s CAP (Christians Against Poverty) team won third equal placing and a cheque for $1000.
‘‘The video depicted three local people who have been helped through CAP,’’ explained Eugene Williams, who heads the New Plymouth CAP team.
‘‘What we are doing is helping people who are in debt. We work with them giving a complete wrap-around service to get them out of debt and into a position where they can control their own money,’’ he said.
‘‘CAP is run through churches throughout New Zealand, Australia, Canada and England, where it started in 1996. It is interdenominational. We will help anybody and whether they are a Christian or not is totally immaterial.
‘‘It’s a long-term thing with our people. We don’t just feed our clients and send them away.
‘‘Over a period of time, we help them to get back on their feet. ‘‘That to us is so important. ‘‘Before the people we are helping are finally out of debt, we put them on a money management course, so they can learn to control their finances.
‘‘We slowly drip feed the bills back to the clients so that they can take them over.’’
All local CAP staff, are volunteers, and the service is completely free to clients, stressed Williams.
Time has proven that the lives of most of those who have been helped are changed permanently.
‘‘In England, where it has been going for 10 years, 96 per cent of the people who have been helped through CAP have never got back into debt. That is tremendous.’’
The $1000 prize money would be spent locally, said Williams.
‘‘While we are helping our clients out of debt, we sometimes need to buy food, furniture, plus other things for the house, or even help them to move house.
‘‘We have several things which we need to get for clients, but it means that we have money in hand for when we get new clients and various items are desperately needed.
‘‘Anyone, anywhere, if you are struggling with debt, no matter how it happened, please ring the free phone 0508 227 111 for help.’’