Abstract

Based upon ethnographic research in the North West of the United Kingdom, this article examines how social support is garnered and enduring bonds are formed in NGOs, which can be perceived as places of transience. Through a lens of temporalities, I investigate the lived experiences of economically uncertain mothers who rely upon NGOs for instrumental, and subsequently emotional support. This research analyses how, through the consistency of instrumental support, NGOs establish institutional trust among its clients. Thusly, the mothers in this research garner social support and form durable bonds essential to lessen the experience of social isolation and stigmatization. Centrally, it is explored how NGOs, presented as spaces of transience, but are not necessarily in practice, facilitate social support with its visitors through providing security, safety, and reliability that they experience little elsewhere.