What is Home-Start?

Core Belief
Home-Start believes that children need a happy and secure childhood and that parents play the key role in giving their children a good start in life and helping them achieve their full potential.

About 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 5. Our home visiting work is unique in the UK. The charity was set up in 1973 and now 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.

How can we Help?
Being a Parent is Never Easy! You can feel exhausted or overwhelmed by the stresses of family life in general and it is even more difficult if extended family or friends are unable to offer support when you need it. A Home-Start Runnymede Volunteer can offer friendship, understanding, re-assurance, a listening ear, a breathing space and a helping hand. Our service is free and confidential and we visit only by invitation.

How you can Help?
Become a Home-Start home visiting Volunteer.
If you have parenting experience and a couple of hours to spare during the week, you could become a Home-Start Runnymede Volunteer and be a lifeline for a local family. Our volunteers come from many different backgrounds, vary in age but are all either parents or having parenting backgrounds. They are carefully selected for their friendliness and understanding and are appropriately approved. They attend a course of preparation before being linked to families. They are neither paid for their work, nor are they professionals, they simply wish to offer their time and friendship.

Trustee Board
Our scheme is run by a Trustee Board who meets every 3 months and whose time, enthusiasm and experience are of enormous value to the Scheme. If you feel you could spare a little of your time and could offer us your professional/personal skills, please call us on 01932 568874.

Donations
We could not operate without the generous support of many people both locally and nationally. We accept any donations, in cash or cheques to support our core work or to fund a specific project e.g. our volunteers training or a family event. Cheques should be made payable to Home-Start Runnymede. We also make use of the Gift Aid process whereby all tax papers are able to donate more via the Government simply by completing a form with their donation.