Charity Starts At Home In East Surrey

Charity Starts At Home In East Surrey

The saying ‘charity starts at home’ truly resonated with Home-Start East Surrey, the charity based in Redhill has been meeting the challenges of and supporting families with children younger than five, in Redhill, Reigate, Horley, Caterham, Oxted, Dorking and surrounding areas for the past 25 years.

Family life in 2020 is seldom easy and for some families, struggling with challenges such as physical and mental health issues, disability, isolation, bereavement, family breakdown, managing children’s behaviour, or multiple births, can be overwhelming. Help at a critical moment can make all the difference to families and help them to begin to be able to move on positively with their lives and that is where Home-Start East Surrey’s caring and dedicated staff and volunteers come in.

Speaking about the work of Home-Start East Surrey’s volunteers who travel to visit the homes of East Surrey families, scheme manager, Mary Osman, says: “We have an amazing team of around 50 Home-visiting volunteers who visit families in their own home once a week to provide emotional and practical support by being someone to talk to, someone to help families get out of the house to community groups or appointments, someone to support families with young children to enjoy their time together and to help to support children’s learning and development through play, reading, singing nursery rhymes and getting out and active in the park or local area with the family.”

As well as offering emotional and practical support to Surrey-based families, Home-Start East Surrey helps in other ways, Mary adds: “We also run a Nurture Group in Reigate for parents with under ones who are experiencing post-natal depression, anxiety or isolation and organise regular outings and events for families throughout the year. We work closely with local professionals such as health visitors, GPs, school staff and many others to identify families who may benefit from our support.”

The commitment, dedication and value of Home-Start East Surrey’s team of volunteers was recognised at the annual Reigate & Banstead Mayor’s Awards 2019. A team from Home-Start East Surrey was presented with Volunteer Team Award by borough mayor, Cllr Keith Foreman, and was accepted by Christine Allan and Louise Van Den Berg, who currently volunteer with Home Start East Surrey, and help to support families across Reigate and Banstead.

Help Home-Start East Surrey In 2020

Home-Start East Surrey’s volunteers receive around 40 hours of training and receive ongoing support from the charity’s staff. The charity is recruiting for volunteers to join its next volunteers’ course starting this month on Tuesday, January 21, and would love to hear from anyone who is
a parent or had parenting experience and who would be interested in volunteering.

For more information about volunteering with Home-Start East Surrey,
call: 01737 770220, or email: info@home-starteastsurrey.org.uk