A helping hand for those who couldn’t afford to put food on the table, or needed financial assistance just to keep the lights on and the fridge running.

Instead, Lizzie Millar used it to maintain her family’s Foxtel subscription.

Millar, a volunteer turned general manager at House of Hope, has admitted fleecing tens of thousands of dollars from the Warrawong-based charity over a two-year period spanning the entirety of her time at its helm.

It will be a tough pill to swallow for the hundreds of people who relied on the charity to help them in their hour of need – but moreso those who weren’t able to receive a helping hand because of Millar’s selfish actions.

During an interview with the Mercury in July 2016 to spruik House of Hope’s involvement in the Illawarra Food Hub initiative, Millar said the charity’s food barn was getting ”seven new people join every day because they cannot afford to put food on their family’s tables”.

“They’re broken. They are busted, busted people,” she said.

“We’re here because we care about people and, you know what, it could be you tomorrow – it’s that simple.

“If we don’t get this food hub working we’re in big trouble,” she said.

Bank records show just six days later, Millar transferred $750 from the charity into her own bank account.

The same month she used the organisation’s funds to pay her monthly Foxtel subscription.

Millar was first charged with fraud in December 2016 after an internal investigation revealed anomalies in the charity’s financial statements.

Millar maintained her innocence for almost two years, even when a second set of charges was laid against her in September 2017. 

Police laid charges against Millar’s son and the centre’s then-administration manager, Benjamin Bond, at the same time.

A combined two-day hearing for the pair had been scheduled to begin on Wednesday, however Millar entered a last minute guilty plea, while prosecutors agreed to withdraw all charges against Bond.

Police allege the amount Millar stole, often through making unauthorised transfers from House of Hope bank accounts to her own, is somewhere near $100,000.

However, defence barrister Robert Steward told the court that amount was in dispute and would require some negotiations between the parties.

“I expect the quantum originally alleged will change significantly,” he said.

A set of agreed facts said Millar had control over the charity’s day-to-day operations, including paying wages to employees and as such, had access to the organisation’s bank accounts.

A review of the charity’s cash flow by directors in November 2016 discovered several discrepancies, prompting a more thorough investigation to take place.

That investigation revealed Millar had made dozens of unauthorised transfers from the charity’s bank accounts into her own accounts and that of her son between Novmber 2014 and July 2016.

Almost all the transfers were falsely listed as relating to House of Hope business. 

Further investigation revealed Millar regularly used charity funds to pay for a Foxtel subscription at her Primbee home, while she used House of Hope credit cards in the names of the centre’s directors to buy two computers and an iPad at Harvey Norman that were not for business purposes.

Millar remains on bail and will face sentencing on November 14.