Monte Cecilia, I never heard of this name before in NZ, despite living here for 12 years.  One tragedy in my life changed everything.  Me and my family were involved in a house fire on 3rd of September 2018 when everything in our life turned upside down. Luckily we managed to escape the fire on time but we lost almost all of our belongings.

We were heartbroken, had no immediate families to go to for support.  While in hospital after we escaped the fire, one of the Social Worker’s referred us to WINZ to ask for any help and support they could provide us, to find a shelter.

We tried several attempts to different WINZ branches but they declined to help since we had contents insurance.  Insurance company informed us everything will take 2-3 months to finalise and its then we decided to knock the local MPs door and somehow I ended up in Lifewise office when I started telling my story of what just happened to us.  I suppose I was at the right place at the right time.  She explained to us who Monte Cecilia was and what they do to help make a difference in people’s lives.

I am so grateful I met Monte social work manager, & for all the help that was offered to our family.  Monte found us the emergency house which was fully furnished, they even helped us with the food, did home visits to see if we are ok with everything.  As the days went by, we learned to accept things that we’ve been through but at the same time I was happy that we were all safe, had a house to live in, even if was for a short period of time. 

However, Monte continued to help us in every other way they could possibly do.

In about a months time, Monte managed to find us a Monte community social housing option at a great location and we love the place.  Well, that was not enough from Monte.

In September 2018, I had graduated with a Bachelor in Business, and I was struggling to find my first job in accounting field in NZ market as I was lacking experience in this field.

Another opportunity knocked at my door when I received a call from my Monte Social Worker asking me if I would be interested to work at Monte as they had a vacancy coming up.  I was happy and told her that I would take the job if offered.

From there, started the process of applying for the job, and getting the interview.  Yay, finally I got accepted for the role.

I am so grateful that I had met such lovely and caring people at Monte, both as a team and as individual human beings.

Thank you Monte for all the help, support, love and care that I received when me and my family were very vulnerable.

You guys do an awesome job, really appreciate you for all the effort that you put into people’s lives to make a difference.  Once again, thank you Monte for everything.  I am so proud to be part of the Monte Family.