HER WORK WITH PRINCE’S TRUST
Course is driving Daisy to success
FAB FIVE At the Brit Awards in 1997 and, below, reunited at Geri’s house last month MEL C ON WHY IT’S A GOOD TIME FOR THE BAND TO RE-FORM WINNER Daisy McDonnell has won award DAISY McDonnell, 22, knows how desperately the help of The Prince’s Trust can be needed.
Tomorrow she will receive an award at The Prince’s Trust and TKMaxx & Homesense Awards, after being crowned Homesense Young Achiever of the Year in association with The Daily Mirror.
Daisy, from the Isle of Wight, was 17 when her life spiralled rapidly downhill. She was an A-grade student but after moving in with a partner, and then losing someone very close to her, the relationship fell apart and she ended up alone.
Unable to pay the rent despite three jobs, she found herself in hostels and then on the streets of Brighton.
“I was sleeping rough for two years, often in a tent,” she says. “It was very frightening. People were volatile at best. I felt like there were situations where I could have died.”
Rock bottom hit when a good friend she met on the streets passed away. But, inadvertently, he left Daisy a lifeline.
He had a course lined up with The Prince’s Trust, and she decided to take it in his memory. Thanks to that course and her hard work, her life has now turned around.
She was taken off the streets, given a home, food, a phone, support and, importantly, training and direction.
On the Team programme – a 12-week course that builds the confidence and employability skills of unemployed young people– her self-esteem rocketed.
Now, she is fulfilling a dream by undertaking an apprenticeship in sailing with UKSA. “The Trust helped me get into a better situation,” she says. “Now I’m looking forward to a much better future.”