News Release
Home-Start Dinefwr get a £154,657 cash boost from the Lottery
Issued: 17th December 2010
MP congratulates family support charity on £154,657 of Lottery funding
Home-Start Dinefwr has offered support and friendship to families who are experiencing difficulties, throughout Carmarthen East & Dinefwr area, since 1995. It is all free of charge and confidential.
The charity is one of 334 local Home-Starts that are spread right across the UK and forms part of the UK’s leading family support charity.
There are 18 Home-Starts across Wales, and between them they have 707 trained parent volunteers supporting 1,737 families and 3,559 children.
Home-Start recruits and trains parent volunteers to support families who are struggling to cope. This can be for any reason including domestic abuse, multiple births, isolation, depression, bereavement and lone families.
Home-Start Dinefwr has been fortunate in receiving The Big Lottery Fund backing with £154,657 in funding for a new project to offer intense ‘basic life skills courses.’
Many parents through no fault of their own have not been taught basic life skills such cooking, healthy meal planning, interacting with their children, managing a household or budgeting.
Home-Start scheme organiser Victoria Thomas said, “We feel extremely privileged that the Big Lottery Fund can see the benefits our project will bring to young families throughout the area. We will now be able to offer intense life skills training within the family home, we believe by empowering and enabling the parents, the children will in turn benefit from a more positive future.”
This additional support project will employ staff dedicated to making this project a success and benefiting as many families as possible over the next three years.
Ferial Clegg, another organiser from Home-Start Dinefwr said, “This project will compliment our already successful volunteer support that families with children under five years can receive.”
Jonathan Edwards MP for Carmarthen East & Dinefwr visited Home-Start Dinefwr to congratulate them on their funding success. He commented: "With the human cost of the economic downturn likely to increase, bodies such as Home- Start Dinefwr are a vital life support for many families. This Lottery funding will enable the charity to help more people. I urge families who may find themselves with difficulties to contact charities such as Home-Start Dinefwr as soon as they find themselves in trouble."
For more information on support or details on volunteering contact Home-Start Dinefwr on 01269 593853.
Photo top right; left to right- Victoria Thomas, Jonathan Edwards MP, Ferial Clegg, Home-Start Dinefwr treasurer, Anthony Gwyther.
-ENDS-
Press Contact:
Victoria Thomas, Home-Start Dinefwr
Tel: 01269 593 853
Email: hs_dinefwr@btconnect.com
Available for interview:
Victoria Thomas and Ferial Clegg
NOTES TO EDITOR
Home-Start is the UK’s leading family support charity. We recruit and train volunteers to support parents with at least one child under the age of five. Our home visiting work is unique in the UK. The charity was set up in 1973 and now supports nearly 35,000 families and almost 73,000 children each year. More than 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.
