A charity is celebrating fresh support for families thanks to new funding.
Home Start Hampshire has received a £1,000 grant from Hartford Care to help fund its latest volunteer recruitment drive.
The funding was awarded through Hartford Care’s community fund, launched last year to celebrate the opening of its new Alton care home, Alton Place, on Winchester Road.
Ian Wollam, co-chair trustee of Home Start Hampshire, said: "We had been looking at ways to diversify our income and one of our volunteers saw Hartford Care’s community fund initiative in the local paper and we applied straight away.
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"We were so thrilled to be chosen to receive the grant.
"It’s incredibly gratifying that a local business sees the value of what we do and the grant has gone towards ensuring support in the local area continues to help families in need."
Home Start Hampshire offers regular support and practical help to families under stress to help give their children the best possible start in life.
He said: "It’s no secret that in recent years there’s been a high turnover of volunteers for many charities, with people needing to step back into paid employment or care for dependents, so the grant has also helped support a recruitment drive and we currently have five new volunteers ready to begin their training."
He also highlighted the broader impact of the funding.
He said: "We are truly grateful to Hartford Care, the team at Alton Place have gone above and beyond and along with the grant, we’re also able to use the lounge in the home for volunteer and staff meetings – this in itself saves us costs which would otherwise have to be found to fund a venue, meaning we can reinvest back into our service offer."
Hartford Care’s support has drawn praise from both sides.
Lisa White, operations director at Hartford Care, said: "We are very proud to support and be a part of our local communities and the work Home Start Hampshire undertakes is invaluable.
"We’re so pleased to see the grant has helped with many aspects, especially in enabling the charity to highlight its work further in the community and recruit more volunteers to help even more people in the local area."
