WHEN Maxine Hatfield lost her house because of poor health, she had nowhere to turn.
Facing a future without a home or job, life looked very bleak for the 53-year-old, until she was told about the William Booth House hostel in Hessle Road.
Fast-forward nine months and Maxine not only has a place she can call a home, but job prospects on the horizon thanks to a partnership between the Salvation Army at William Booth House and homeless training specialist Community Linx.
Ms Hatfield said: "I ended up being so ill that I lost my house. I couldn't afford to keep it.
"Luckily, I found somewhere to stay at William Booth and was introduced to Community Linx.
"They started running GCSE courses in maths and English and I decided to sign up to try to boost my confidence."
Ms Hatfield was successful in gaining GCSEs in both subjects and has since been offered a job with the Emmaus charity, which works with homeless people.
She said: "I have been promised a role with Emmaus and they are going to give me the training I need to get a suitable job.
"My life has been transformed. I have made new friends and I feel I have something to live for."
Community Linx is the brainchild of Kelly Thompson, of Hull.
Ms Thompson said: "I created Community Linx in 2011 to fill an identified gap in homeless services around training, education, employability and independent living skills.
"I initially devised training packages, sourced funding and set about building an organisation where the sole purpose was to engage with homeless people, offering meaningful learning experiences."
Community Linx has opened a new training centre at William Booth House to help residents gain the qualifications needed to find employment.
Ms Thompson said: "What really is one of the biggest contributors to the work we do is the invaluable relationship we have with the Salvation Army Centre at William Booth.
"The team there has embraced the ever- changing needs of their clients, recognised that homeless services need to offer so much more than a bed and have supported and welcomed all training we have offered.
"This has allowed us to move on site in a designated learning facility and encourage their service users to learn, up-skill and enjoy training options and activities available to them."
Graham Ingrim, 33, spent two months at William Booth House when he was left homeless following the breakdown of a relationship.
Mr Ingrim had always dreamt of becoming a sports coach and, with the help of Community Linx, has been accepted on to a sports leadership course and been picked to play football for the Homeless FA England football team.
"The two months I spent at William Booth House and working with Community Linx completely changed my life," Mr Ingrim said.
"They helped me to find my own place to live and get my GCSEs in maths and English and now I am working towards finding a job as a sports coach.
"I couldn't have got where I have done today without them.
"My life has been transformed."
Mr Ingrim will play for England's Homeless FA team at a special tournament in Manchester in November.
"I'm really excited," he said.
"It's something I am proud of and will definitely be something else to add to the CV."
Alex Slater, finance manager at William House, is delighted a new training centre has opened at the hostel site.
She said: "We have worked alongside Kelly and Community Linx for a number of years and, although we can offer people a roof over their heads, there was something missing when it came to providing training opportunities.
"We have had people come to us who could not read or write and their confidence was at an all-time low.
"The new training centre on site now allows us to offer a complete service and it will be fantastic to see our users gain new skills and the confidence to succeed in life."
Since it was founded in 2011, Community Linx has expanded the training services it offers homeless people across Hull and East Yorkshire.
Ms Thompson said: "We have diversified over the years to add mentoring, accredited qualifications and outdoor experiences, and we sponsor an inclusion football team represented by local homeless people.
"We want those who use our service to feel more confident and positive about the future."
