We are celebrating today after being awarded 3-year funding from The National Lottery Community Fund, the largest funder of community activity in the UK.
We will use this funding for our ‘Building Stronger Families’ Project to continue recruiting and training volunteer mentors to work with some of the most vulnerable families in the community, with families learning a wide range of skills to help them raise their children in happy, healthy ways.
This new National Lottery funding will enable us to support over 115 families over the next three years, starting from 1st April. Volunteer mentors support families within their own homes, encouraging and listening, playing, budget planning and making use of local parks and family services, giving them the confidence they need when raising a young family, thus reducing the feeling of isolation and anxiety. Home-Start Sittingbourne & Sheppey are always looking for new volunteer mentors to achieve this, and welcome applications from local parents, grandparents, or those with significant parenting experience.
National Lottery players raise over £30 million a week for good causes across the UK. The national Lottery Community Fund distributes a share of this to projects to support people and communities to prosper and thrive.
Allison McColl, Manager of Home-Start Sittingbourne & Sheppey, said: “Thanks to National Lottery players, this grant means that we can continue to provide a much-needed free support service for some of the most vulnerable families living in our community. We will be able to recruit, train and mentor additional volunteer mentors allowing us to provide emotional and practical support to families with young children living in Sittingbourne and the Isle of Sheppey.
Having the National Lottery Community Fund grant gives us the financial security to be able to develop and expand our support services, moving forward for families in need, because childhood can’t wait. This will make a big difference to people’s lives.”