Christians Against Poverty

The Mersten Foundation is proud to be working with Christians Against Poverty (CAP); a national charity whose vision brings freedom and good news to poverty stricken people in every community through a nationwide network of CAP projects.

We are on a mission to release thousands of families from grinding poverty through award winning debt counselling and community groups. By equipping and empowering CAP Centres in local churches to reach out on their doorsteps, bringing hope to those who think life is hopeless.

CAP are unsurpassed when it comes to the debt help they give people across the country. There’s nothing better than to start you on the path to having more money in your pocket.

Martin Lewis

Money Saving Expert

The Market Drayton centre is run by Gill Carley and was opened in 2014 while the Crewe centre is run by Tim Oakley and was opened in 2011. Both Gill & Tim saw the huge need in their local areas and began by setting up a Debt centre in their respective towns. In 2012, the headline in the Crewe Chronicle newspaper read “Outside of London, Crewe has the highest level of personal debt in the UK”

We knew the need was great but to see it splashed across the front page of a local newspaper was a
huge incentive and made us even more determined to help people break free from spiralling debt.

Tim Oakley

Crewe Debt Centre Manager

Both centres run the CAP Money course, a free course that will teach you budgeting skills and a simple, cash‐based system that works. In just a few weeks, you will get to grips with your finances so you can budget, save and prevent debt. The Market Drayton Centre also helps people step into employment through a CAP Job Club and helps people get control of their habitual dependencies through Fresh Start. We’ve recognised how important it is to help people holistically, so supporting and befriending people is a key part of the service offered, something which is unique to the CAP service.

The funding provided by Mersten will enable the Crewe centre to continue to employ a second Debt Coach, ensuring more & more families can receive this essential help and will also allow the Market Drayton centre to continue to provide on-going debt help, along with the Job Club and Fresh Start courses. Essentially, the funding from the Mersten Foundation means that more lives will continue to be transformed across Cheshire and North Shropshire.

This is how it felt for one young man we worked with:

Despite my best efforts to keep my head above water, the debts were still increasing. Before I knew it I had been evicted from three houses. At this point I was on the road to destruction. I didn’t know where to turn or what to do. I could see no way out of my situation as debts just seemed to escalate out of control with additional charges. I had debt collectors visiting almost daily, sometimes multiple times per day. Within minutes of meeting with CAP it felt that the weight of the world had been lifted off my shoulders. They took responsibility of all correspondence telling me to forward all post to them. The combination of realising the extent of the difficulties I was in, along with the overwhelming relief of believing for the first time there was a way forward caused me to breakdown in tears. I was moved by their willingness to help me and by what they were willing to do.

CAP Beneficiary

For more information on the charitable work being done by Christians Against Poverty, visit their website here.