I have just received a monster cheque – monster in every sense of the word – from the Inner Wheel of Woodbridge, who were kind enough to make HomeStart Suffolk Coastal their chosen charity this last year. HomeStart are immensely grateful and will use the money wisely .
What on? On our wonderful volunteers, the bedrock on which the whole ethos of HomeStart stands.. £1000 is exactly the amount it costs to fund one of our HomeStart Volunteer Preparation Courses.
We run four or five of these a year if we can afford them, week-long courses – each one of which is an intensive preparation for an average of 9 volunteers for the role and requirements of a HomeStart volunteer.
It covers everything that Volunteers really need to know: starting with the basic essentials such as values and attitudes, family bonds and the stress factors that can affect family life, before going on to more specific and vital issues such as confidentiality, safeguarding, and setting boundaries, the mechanics of visiting and finishing with the emotional and philosophical issues concerning when support should end.
Whereas the visitor to Suffolk sees our beautiful countryside, our ancient townships, and the all the wonderful things Suffolk has to offer, rural poverty, deprivation and isolation are a continuing problem: hiding in plain sight. These courses are a wonderful investment in the future of the people of east Suffolk . Each and every volunteer we train will go on to support 1.5 families every year they remain with HomeStart.
This cheque therefore represents an altered future for an additional fourteen struggling local families a year.
Thank you very much, Woodbridge Inner Wheel!