Home-Start awarded £343,000 in lottery funding

Home-Start Managers Donna McKenna (Rochdale), Razia Mohammed (Bolton) and Kate Brookes (Bury) were presented with over £343,000 in Lottery funding

Over £343,000 of lottery funding has been secured by local family support charity, Home-Start.

The new Lottery funded project, (HSBBR) will allow the Bury, Bolton and Rochdale collective force to share their own specialisms with each other, including ‘school readiness’ and early learning, support for families affected by autism and raising the awareness of issues faces by BME families. Home-Start Rochdale will receive £99,067 of the Lottery grant.

There are seven Home-Starts working with families across Greater Manchester, and most recently Home-Start Bury, Bolton and Rochdale have collectively joined forces to develop new ways of working together, including the delivery of a cohesive Home-Start service across the three local authority areas; thus increasing referrals, and reaching out to more families who need support in these areas.

Across the next three years of funding, each year the project will support 150 parents with approximately 350 children and also provide 75 new volunteering opportunities across Rochdale, Bury and Bolton.

Donna McKenna, manager of Home-Start Rochdale, said: “Working collaboratively in this way is a new and innovative way of working for Home-Start, but as funding gets harder and budgets are stretched, providing this cost-effective joint approach is a brilliant way forward.”

For almost 25 years, Home-Start has been providing frontline support to the struggling to cope in Rochdale, Bury and Bolton with volunteers who visit families in their own homes.

Home-Start works in local communities, recruiting and training volunteers to offer emotional and practical support to local parent and their children who are facing difficult life circumstances. This can be for a range of reasons, including poverty, poor mental health, illness and disability and isolation.

Locally trained volunteers visit families in their own homes for just a couple of hours each week, providing tailor-made support, and empowering parents to make positive change through a confidential and non- judgemental approach.

One parent supported by Home-Start said: “Before Home-Start my life was in chaos. I could not see the point of getting up in the morning. My post-natal illness was so bad, I often thought my baby would be better off without me. I was referred to Home-Start by my health visitor.

"As each volunteer visit happened, I became more and more relaxed and confident in my parenting. The emotional support my volunteer offered took me so far on my journey. Looking back I do not know where I would be without Home-Start. They saved my sanity and gave my little boy his mum back.”