Help change lives with Home-Start

Karen Neville

Alton, Community & Charity, Fleet, Petersfield & Villages, Round and About

Nicola Winter invites you to be the change that lasts a lifetime with Home-Start Butser

Home-Start Butser, a local family support charity, was set up over 25 years ago and has been supporting thousands of families with young children in Petersfield and the southern areas of East Hampshire.

Volunteers with parenting experience are recruited and trained, then matched with families, with at least one child under five, going through challenging times.

Volunteering will look different depending on the family being supported but every family will typically receive 2-3 hours of support each week where their volunteer goes into the home and does something that the family need or want. That might be playing with the children to allow the parent to get a job done or have a shower. It could be that the parent needs someone to speak to, someone who can listen without judgement or bias. Or they may have a disability and that extra pair of hands is a lifeline. Sometimes our volunteers help families to get out and meet other parents or they act as an advocate for the parent in a tricky situation, accompanying them to appointments and accessing other support services.

Alongside our home-visiting support, we also run a number of groups, offering families a safe space to chat, play and make new friends and many of our volunteers choose to be involved this way instead.

In such challenging times, with statutory resources stretched and the ongoing cost of living crisis, Home-Start Butser and the wonderful volunteers are always there, never wavering in their support. Thousands and thousands of hours have been given by volunteers since we started in 1998. The impact is considerable, many describing their volunteers as:

‘Amazingly kind and caring’

‘I honestly don’t know whether I would have survived without my volunteer.‘

‘She is our God send, we love her!’

‘You have helped my family so much’

‘I love love love her, I don’t want her to leave until they are at uni’

‘The best practical and emotional support I ever had, apart from my mum’

Many more families locally need our help, and we always need to raise funds to continue our vital work.

We are very excited to be part of the Big Give Christmas Challenge which means for one week, December 3rd to 10th, every penny donated will be doubled.

To find out more about us; to become a volunteer, to get help for your family, or to make a donation please visit Home-Start Butser | the leading local family support charity