News Release
Sainsbury’s recognise five Home-Start schemes work promoting healthy lifestyles to families through the ‘Starting Young’ project and award them £1,000 each
23rd March 2009
Event: 'Starting Young' award ceremony
Where: Sainsbury's headquarters, London
When: 31st March 2009
Time- 10.30am for 11.00am start
Photo caption- L to R
Paula Anscombe (mum), Penny (volunteer & committee member), Rita (organiser), Andy White (Sainsbury's), Sandra (admin worker), Liam (Paula's son).
'Starting Young' is a new approach to health and well being for families with children under the age of five.
Run by Home-Start and funded by Sainsbury's, 'Starting Young' recognises the importance of children's early years to their future health and development and the vital role parents play in supporting their children's health and well being.
Providing a healthy start for children can be tough for parents, especially when they are struggling to cope with a whole range of other problems- poverty, isolation, poor housing, lack of transport and sheer exhaustion.
By working alongside parents, in their own homes and through a range of community events and activities, Home-Start volunteers, (all parents themselves) are able to provide the vital guidance, support and practical help that parents need and that can make a difference to the.
To mark the end of the pilot year, Home-Start schemes across the UK were encouraged to enter the Starting Young awards. The awards are a celebration and acknowledgment of exceptional work encouraging healthy lifestyles. The awards were split in to the following categories; Reaching Out to Families, Healthiest Group Support, Working Together and Healthiest Home-visiting Support.
Home-Start Bassetlaw, Home-Start Chorley & South Ribble, Home-Start High Peak, Home-Start Pendle & Ribble Valley and Home-Start South West Lincolnshire were the five winning schemes. The award ceremony takes place on 31st March 2009 at Sainsbury's head quarters in London.
Staff at the award-winning schemes said: "To have our hard work recognised means a lot to us and to have an extra £1,000 to spend on continuing our promotion of healthy living with the families that we support is great."
-ENDS-
Notes to Editor
For more information on the detail of the winning project and to enquire whether any case studies are available please contact the local contact below.
How Starting Young Works
In the environment of their own homes, parents are offered simple and practical healthy eating and active lifestyle advice. Volunteers encourage parents to make lasting changes to their eating and activity by giving them practical help with budgeting, shopping and cooking, trips to the park, swimming and maybe even the local farm. Through a range of fun games and activities they make sure the children as well as the parents are involved.
Home-Start
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 71,000 children each year. More than 15,000 volunteers visit families in their own homes - parents supporting other parents in a variety of situations including isolation, bereavement, multiple births, illness or disability.
Press Contact
Local Contact:
National contact:
Jo McLeish, Press and PR Officer t: 0116 258 7933; e: jmcleish@home-start.org.uk
