Charity rises to challenge of pandemic
More than £100k spent to help struggling lockdown families
A lifeline charity that supports vulnerable families has ploughed more than £108,000 into the community to help people throughout the pandemic.
Home- Start, which helps parents of young children tackle issues associated with mental health, loneliness and isolation, has spent thousands of pounds throughout the last year to ensure families got the support they needed while impacted by Covid-19.
Working with 166 families in Renfrewshire and Inverclyde, the staff and a team of 110 volunteers have carried out more than 1,200 doorstep deliveries to those who needed support by supplying activities and food parcels.
Helping with home-schooling, financial and work- related problems, social isolation and mental health are just some of the issues staff helped parents with throughout the year from March 2020 and April this year.
Activity packs, fruit and vegetables boxes, online support groups and financial support are just some of the ways the Paisley based charity has helped families throughout 2020.
The full scale of their positive response has been detailed in the organisation’s annual report, which highlighted the “commitment and determination to support the most vulnerable families in our community” and thanked volunteers for their hard work.
The organisation’s manager Iain McDonald previously told the Express he feared the pandemic would have a “severe and lasting impact” on the mental health of families in the local authority.
Alongside his dedicated team at the Back Sneddon Street base, Iain was determined to do as much as he could to combat the plight families were facing. He said: “We haven’t stopped since the beginning of lockdown and we have managed to make a difference to so many families.
“The staff and the volunteers have really gone above and beyond to make sure we were doing our best to help people when they could have been feeling really alone.
“Families have told us the doorstep support made a great difference, not only financially and practically but emotionally too.
“Staff and volunteers could maintain socially distanced face-to-face contact and families could discuss how they were coping with confinement in the home.
“Aware of the stress parents have been experiencing, we provided pamper packs and survival kits for mum and dad which staff and volunteers delivered.
“As lockdown eased, we resumed outdoor meetings for families and volunteers. These helped to identify concerns around parental and children’s mental health. Many families were struggling with their mental health or their children’s behaviour during lockdown and did not know how to access specialist services.
“We began operating online group sessions for parents to get peer support and sourced funding for counselling and play therapy sessions for families.”
Home- Start also thanked the community for helping to raise a total of £ 40,000 for the charity throughout the year, with organisations and groups such as Barnhill Farm, Cloch Housing, Linstone Housing, Renfrewshire Coats for Kids, Renfrewshire Toy Bank, Scottish Leather Group, Twa Burds Soaps, Gryffe Valley Rotary Club, Howdens (Renfrew), A&D Logistics, and John Lewis & Partners.
Iain added: “We would like to say a huge thanks to all the participants, donors and wellwishers for supporting our fundraising work.
“It is you who are making the real positive difference for the next generation. We continue to be awestruck by your generosity.”