When Kay Guyton tries to explain what she does for work, she struggles. Not because she doesn’t know what her job entails, but because it’s hard to pinpoint all the different way she helps those around her.
Kay has run the charity Angel in My Street for almost 10 years.
She has been a support for rape victims, helped families secure a home to live in, clothed children, all while working through a weekly pile of growing requests for food.
She has been funded to do her work by Nelson Tasman Charitable Trust, but due to a change in circumstances, the trust has made the difficult decision to end funding for Kay’s services.
“I’m sure it will be deeply missed by a number of people, but over the period of time a lot has been achieved,” says chair of the trust, Steve Baigent.
He says a lot of people can’t help themselves and Kay has been with them to offer support.
“She walks the journey and she has walked with a lot of them.”
Heather Dickson first met Kay on the street she lives, while Kay was wandering between houses checking on everyone.
“She’s amazing,” Heather says.
“Kay has helped me with clothes for the kids, clothes for me, she has helped me through a court case, been with me in strengthening family meetings as well as being a constant emotional support.”
Heather and her children are just one of roughly 350 families who Kay is assisting at any one time.
Kay says Nelson Tasman Charitable Trust has given her great freedom and trust to help where she sees the most need, which is where she differs from other social agencies.
She says she loves working with the underpriveleged the most.
“There might be someone who doesn’t have a birth certificate and no ID so can’t get a benefit. They can’t use a computer and it all becomes too much for them. They’re the ones I love helping because they build their life from the bottom.
“The beauty of my job is I can stay with them the whole way through. They go from nowhere, doing nothing and not believing in themselves, sometimes all they need is someone to believe in them.”
Broadgreen Intermediate principal Pete Mitchener has been working with Kay since he was principal at Stoke School, providing her a base at the school to work from.
“When I was at Stoke School we were trying to get social agencies into schools, we tried a few and some worked but Kay just has that ability to assess the situation very quickly and connect people with the right services."
Pete says Kay’s support then had a flow-on effect through the school.
“A lot of families were saying how they were secure and enabled to stay in their housing for example, because of the support that Kay was giving them.
“When the family are settled, it’s better for the children and the children are happier.”
He says when the parents felt supported with what they were going through they often had more time to then come and support the school through the day.
Pete says when he moved to Broadgreen Intermediate he noticed the same needs across a wider section of the community so Kay moved her base.
“It’s going to be a huge loss,” he says.
Kay says it’s a shame that her job is ending as the need is greater than ever.
“I don’t know what I’m going to do now.”
She says people won’t stop coming to her for help and she won’t stop helping people.
“It’s not just something you can turn off, I have spent my life helping others, I just need a job or funding that allows me to keep doing that.”
To discuss funding for Kay’s position email sara@topsouthmedia.co.nz
