Home-Start Cymru, a national Welsh charity, has been awarded nearly £50,000 from Wales Council for Voluntary Action as part of the third sector resilience fund.
 
Home-Start Cymru supports families with young children in the home and when COVID-19 hit they saw demand for services go through the roof. Many families in need of support were experiencing isolation, financial pressures and declining well-being.  Over the past 22 months, the volunteer-led charity has had to adjust to supporting families remotely and they will use the money to continue to thrive over the coming 12 months, including building a new bilingual website and building capacity to raise funds in order to facilitate support for more families.
 
First launched in March 2020 in response to the pandemic, the third sector resilience fund for Wales (TSRF) is part of the financial support announced by the Welsh Government.
 
Sian Dorward, Head of Business and Income Generation at Home-Start Cymru, said: “The funding means we can continue to reach out to vulnerable families into the future as well as in the immediate short-term. Our staff and volunteers help families through their challenging times and it is thanks to the support of funders such as Wales Council for Voluntary Action that we can continue to be there for families when they need us most.”
Caryl Adams, Social Investment Cymru Project Officer, said: “Home-Start Cymru is a great example of how to use the funding available through the Third Sector Resilience Fund [TSRF]. Generating new income from the widest variety of sources is vital in improving their sustainability for the future and will enable them to go on to expand further their already considerable impact”.
Families needing support can find Home-Start Cymru on Facebook, email info@homestartcymru.org.uk or go to www.homestartcymru.org.uk