PLEASE READ THIS MOVING STORY!

Personal Introduction

Kirsty is a hard-working teacher and cares a lot for others. She is a key worker and contributes greatly to society.

She is always looking for ways to help and serve others.

Sadly, due to health issues and a disability, she is unable to work as many hours as she would like.

Her 20- year-old car is struggling, despite numerous attempts and repairs to keep the car going. She is unable to afford to replace her car and has no savings or spare income to pay the car off monthly.

She has used her car to help many people with lifts, and other forms of help, for over 20 years.

Kirsty desperately needs a good, reliable car and is struggling for funds for another car and does not have the years it would take to save up for a good second hand car due to the urgency of this situation.

As well as using her car to help others who depend on her for lifts, she relies on her car for work.

She also relies on her car to help her elderly parents, who live in a remote location with non-existent public transport so needs to drive there regularly and take them to places. As well as helping them practically, this also helps them with their well-being and mental health.

She struggles with her mobility due to arthritis and so has a disability badge.

She quietly cares for others with physical limitations and limitations due to mental health issues. She is always vigilant, keeping a lookout for people who may have difficulties due to limited public transport and poor connections/timings of public transport.

As well as her teaching work, Kirsty is also an unpaid carer for someone and needs a reliable car for her caring work.

Kirsty lives a quiet, private life and doesn’t like asking for help; she would rather ask for help for others and give others help than ask for help for herself!

People are not always aware of the extent to which she involves herself in the community and how she helps a wide range of different people and has done for decades, as she goes about it quietly and humbly. This means she is often unrecognised.

On many occasions, she has overheard someone saying they need to get a taxi to get home and knowing their finances are tight, will jump in and offer to take them. Or she notices that someone is waiting for a bus back and will save them waiting. Or she will listen intently to someone saying they are waiting for a lift from someone who is having to go out of their way so will offer to take them to make it easier for that person. She has always believed the car she has had for nearly 20 years was a blessing and always wants to give back to the community by using it to help and bless people around her that she meets and looks for opportunities to help with the use of her car. Many times, she has filled her car up with rubbish for people and taken things to the tip or distributed them to other places.

It is out of sheer desperation that she now has agreed to a fundraiser being set up and her details disclosed.

However, despite her challenges, others have admired the way she always keeps positive and cheerful and looks outwards, seeking ways to bless those around her and brings sunshine into their lives!

Help Kirsty to help others!

Kirsty has a big heart to help others and is depended on by many in the community who she gives lifts to.

Many have really benefited from her lifts to and from church, shops, hospitals and medical appointments and other locations regularly, for over 20 years, which has helped them financially, spiritually and emotionally. She takes various people to doctors and hospital appointments who have no transport or are disabled and have no other way of getting there.

She has always given lifts generously and without hesitation, never asking for petrol money or anything else in return, even when she has gone miles out of her way. She has faithfully given lifts over decades, with a glad heart, as her main focus has been to bless and help others, especially those who are more vulnerable, alone or feeling down or depressed or going through hardship.

This has helped their mental health and has given them much-needed contact with people and helped them to get support and spiritual encouragement. Being able to get to these events has also helped them to make connections and friends, which has helped with their depression and loneliness.

Regarding helping people with their mental health, the churches that Kirsty is involved in organise various social events for people, such as cultural festivals including food, women’s events, talks etc and many would not get there without Kirsty’s lifts, especially as she reaches out to people and is sensitively aware of their emotional and spiritual needs. Attending these events has been beneficial to them in terms of their mental health, helping them connect with others, helping their self-confidence and helping them feel less alone.

One friend said to her, “We wouldn’t all be together and able to connect like this if it wasn’t for Kirsty.”

She has even left a church service in the middle (and she hates to miss out on any of it!) to fetch someone from their house so they could be at church.

She has been called by others, “The church ‘taxi’!” and “Kopec Cars!”

I am one of the people who Kirsty has helped for over 20 years. I am in my 70s and was born with cerebral palsy and have various disabilities, both physical and mental and have no transport and cannot always manage public transport due to difficulties in my thinking and speed and organisation, as well as breathing issues.

I would not have been able to cope at all without her help in transport for me, eg taking me to monthly hospital appointments for injections and various other medical appointments.

Without Kirsty’s help with lifts, most of the time, I would be isolated and my mental and spiritual health would have suffered if I had not been able to get to community events, get to friends for support, meals and prayer and events that have been able to give me the support I need and stay encouraged and keep depression very much at bay.

There has often been no one available to take me to places, so I would not have been able to get to these places and events, which have greatly helped and encouraged me.

I am prone to depression and anxiety and mental health issues, so being able to get out has really enabled my mental health not to deteriorate, especially over the time of Covid when I have had to limit my contact with people and places.

Heart-break due to danger with personal safety and obstacles

I, and others that know her, have found it very heart-breaking to see Kirsty struggling for several years, especially the last 3 years, with a very old car that keeps breaking down and cannot be repaired.

This has left her stranded on the side of the road many times and very anxious, feeling very vulnerable and unsafe.

At times, she has broken down at the side of a main road when she was on her own, and several men approached her, and this was a potentially very dangerous situation for her. She felt very uneasy and vulnerable.

She has been in tears many times, especially when she sees that she is causing inconvenience for others, eg holding people up at the car wash and at a petrol station when her car wouldn’t start. It has been an hour to three hours at times before the car finally started.

I, and others who are close to her, are very worried for her safety as when the car breaks down, she is often on her own, eg when going to and from her long journey to work as well as other work-related journeys.

I am also very worried about her mental health due to the untold and increasing strain it is putting on her.

Sadly, she has no family or close friends who can help her financially.

HOORAY! This is what we will achieve together!

Kirsty needs the funds to help her get a reliable and suitable car which she can keep for years.

We need the funds to be able to choose a suitable car as there are specific requirements needed, due to the people she helps, eg a bright colour (to be seen with someone with visual impairment), 5 doors as she often moves things for people between different locations, and also to help her elderly parents and others get in and out of the car.

Kirsty has not had an easy life, suffering a violation when younger, being unemployed and narrowly escaping death from a fire, which left her without her home, and being robbed of money due to a scammer.

Yet, she still seeks to look out for others and give to people in need, buying sandwiches for the homeless on the streets and buying thoughtful gifts to encourage others when they are struggling with life events or struggling emotionally or feeling alone.

She also inputs into the lives of many young people, who she works with and has done for nearly 30 years. She commits herself whole-heartedly to these young people and is a very dedicated and loving teacher and very popular with all the children who pass through her care; they never forget her! They love her genuine care and how fun-loving she is.

She never thinks of her own hardships but rather focuses on how to cheer others up and build confidence in the young people in her care.

I am trying to raise funds so she can choose a suitable car to enable her to continue to help others as well as get to work.

She needs funds urgently and there is no time for her to save as it would take years.

Because she has the philosophy of not wanting to waste resources and caring for the environment, and being grateful for every little thing she has (even a day trip to the seaside!) she has tried to keep her old car going well past its ‘use by’ date and repaired it as much as possible, especially in the last 8 years, to extend its life!

I am hoping that setting up this fund will mean many people can be made aware and be involved if they wish and that even very small contributions will help to raise the funds she needs in these times we live in, which I know are tough for many.

To all the people who know Kirsty, they will verify this is all true and to those who don’t know her, feel free to check the details out with me or those who know her.

It would be wonderful to bless her with the funds for a good car so she can continue her passion for helping the vast number of people she helps, from different ages, stages and backgrounds, especially the ‘disadvantaged’ and vulnerable.

Please be kind enough to help, however small.

Pay it Forward

She would ‘Pay it Forward’!

Testimonials

"I've known Kirsty for about 15 years. She's been a really good friend.

Throughout this whole time one I've known her the thing about Kirsty that stands out a mile is her amazing commitment to help and support other people, whether they be family, friends, pupils.

She is a real enabler and an encourager.

She enables by giving support, friendship, encouragement and practical help and always goes that extra mile for others.

She is very inclusive socially and is the lynchpin for bringing people together! Every friendship group needs a Kirsty!

Kirsty has a very deep faith, and she does really live by it in so many aspects of her life.

I actually think she has a real mission to encourage others towards this faith. But she doesn't push it, she meets people where they are. There isn't a sanctimonious or judge-y side to Kirsty at all. She can see the sad and the funny sides to things! That's probably why she has a wide circle of friends!

She gathers people together. In this respect she is really quite tireless and I've never known her to give up on, or leave out anyone!

Countless times she has opened up her home to welcome us.

She works extremely hard in her very demanding job. But she always finds time to give someone a lift to church or wherever they need to be.

She is also great company!"

Karen Booth

"Kirsty is a selfless individual who always puts the needs of others before her own.

She goes out of her way to help people, especially when they need to go to places that are difficult to get to, whether it is going to church, shopping, or medical appointments etc.

She is always there to offer her time and her car.

She is a true blessing, and makes a huge difference."

Andrew Liddicoat

"Kirsty is a wonderful example of kindness and consideration. She is calm and gentle and puts others first and their needs. She has had a hard time with so many obstacles; not an easy life at all. She gives a lovely smile and carries on; no one would know. Only her faith has kept her going; otherwise, she may have had a breakdown."

Eileen

"I really appreciated it when Kirsty stopped when she saw me walking after only meeting me once (and that was on a screen)!

She offered me a lift and went out of her way to take me to the supermarket so I could be home in time to give my elderly mum some medicine.

She didn't have to stop or offer a lift as I had started to walk, but it was a long way and I would not have made it back on time.

Her lift really helped me."

G (anon)

Kirsty is a very generous, kind individual who has so many times given me lifts to church and various other events. When I first started going to church this was really helpful as I didn't know anyone else in church and it meant that I could go to the services. There have been many times I have needed a lift and she has offered to drive me and I won't forget her kindness. Kirsty's hospitality and generous nature are not easy to find and a huge thank you to her.

Sukhbir

"I have seen Kirsty help others when they need a lift, and she has given many lifts to different people who have needed it."

Katherine Johns