News Release
TV star Debra Stephenson throws Home-Start a lifeline
Ex Coronation Street and Bad girls star, Debra Stephenson
will be presenting a BBC1 Lifeline appeal for Home-Start, the UK's leading
family support charity. Tune in at 2.20pm on Sunday 20th July.
Lifeline is the
BBC's monthly television charity appeal programme. For more than twenty years,
Lifeline has helped raised money for and increased the profile of hundreds of
charities across the UK
and abroad. There have been over 250 appeals so far and almost £6m has been
raised for charities. Viewers can donate to Home-Start via the BBC, or can visit our secure JustGiving page.
Debra spent time talking to some of the families supported by Home-Start, she also went to the home of a father, who is bringing up his six children on his own after losing his wife last year, to see how his volunteer supports him at home.
Home-Start's Lifeline appeal featured three families all accessing support for different reasons. Since the death of his wife, Billy has also been attending a Home-Start family support group and says without it, he would have sat at home feeling sorry for himself. Lynn, another parent supported by Home-Start, lost her sight when she was seventeen. With two small children to look after, Lynn says that having a Home-Start volunteer has given her the independence to do all of the activities she could do herself if she didn't have a sight problem. Two years ago Julie gave birth to identical quads. Raising four children can take its toll, Julie says that having four children can be quite isolating as she can't do things that other parents take for granted. Having a Home-Start volunteer means that Julie can get out to the shops and the park with her children.
Debra says: "Being a parent of two small children myself, I know how difficult it can sometimes be. Lots of parents struggle to cope, for many reasons and that's where Home-Start steps in. It's a great idea that is so effective, parents supporting other parents in their own homes. I'm really pleased to be presenting a Lifeline appeal for such a worthwhile charity."
Home-Start is the UK's leading family support charity, recruiting and training volunteers to support parents with at least one child under the age of five. Our home visiting work is unique in the UK. Home-Start supports nearly 35,000 families and over 71,000 children each year. Almost 16,000 volunteers visit families in their own homes - parents supporting other parents in a variety of situations including isolation, bereavement, multiple births, illness or disability.
-ENDS-
Notes to editor
Home-start's BBC Lifeline appeal will be broadcast on Sunday 20th July, BBC1 at 2.20pm. Lifeline is transmitted monthly on BBC1 on Sundays and repeated the following Wednesday on BBC2 at 2pm. (Check TV listings for precise times as slots do change).
Contact information:
Jo McLeish- Press and PR Officer- Home-Start UK
Tel: 0870 220 6713
Email: jmcleish@home-start.org.uk
So, the man from Mars coming here today would say: ‘Why as earthlings are you not investing every penny you can possibly afford into your most precious resource, which is your children and families?'
Professor Al Aynsley-Green
Children's Commissioner for England
