Home-Start UK is grateful to our Corporate Partners for their vision, commitment and support. Here, two of them tell us why they have chosen Home-Start to be their charity.  

White Stuff is a British fashion and lifestyle brand that sells women’s, men’s and kids' clothing, accessories, homeware and gifts in over 120 shops in the United Kingdom, shops in Germany, via mail-order catalogues and through its website. White Stuff have committed to support the work of Home-Start for the next three years.

Since White Stuff chose Home-Start as their Charity of the Year over 50 families have been supported thanks to their generous donations to the COVID-19 Emergency Appeal. White Stuff is also focused on spreading joy, and recently delivered lovely Spring hampers to families.

White Stuff’s support is having a big impact across the country as Linda Johnson, scheme manager at Home-Start Central Bedfordshire explains: “We’re thankful to White Stuff for the emergency grant which has enabled us to provide mental health training for our volunteers and staff around how to recognise when someone is suicidal and what to do when this happens.

We’re seeing an increase in mental ill health due to the pandemic and want our team to be equipped to be able to help and to recognise when someone is feeling so distressed that they do not want to live anymore. White Stuff’s support is vitally important in our work.”

Read more: Home-Start announce amazing White Stuff partnership

A gift from a new mum to new mums

When Steph Douglas became a new mum she was inundated with flowers. It occurred to her that – at a time in her life when she already had her hands full with a new baby – she now had multiple bouquets to care for too. That sparked off an idea to create an online gift company and “Don’t Buy Her Flowers” was born.

As a company, Don't Buy Her Flowers, is focused on spreading love, Steph really wanted to support a family-focused charity. As she explains:

“I found those early months when I had a new baby overwhelming, so as a mum of three it made sense to partner with a charity who supports families going through challenging times.

It felt especially important after the last year – I was very lucky that ours was a business that could not only stay open during the pandemic but saw a huge boom because people were shopping online and wanted to send thoughtful gifts.

So many people have had an awful time and I’ve thought a lot about the added stress and difficulty for anyone with a young family who is struggling.

Our busiest time of the year was Mother’s Day, so we pledged £1 of every order in March to Home-Start, raising £8,287. What is brilliant with Home-Start is we know that money will go to fund proper, practical help.”

Subscribe to 'Family Matters' magazine to get your copy FREE in the post.