Lifeline thrown to Home Start group

Lifeline thrown to Home Start group

21 December 2011

DOWN District’s Home Start organisation has been thrown a financial lifeline.

Funding in the region of £65,000 is to be made available by the Department of Health to allow Home Start to continue with its vital work with local families across the district.

A funding crisis had threatened the closure of the organisation’s operations in Ballynahinch and Newcastle, but in a pre-Christmas announcement yesterday afternoon, Stormont Health Minister Edwin Poots confirmed money will be provided to see the group to the end of the financial year.

His officials are to meet with Home Start representatives early in the New Year to arrange the much-needed funding.

Mr. Poots met yesterday with Home Start officials and confirmed that in addition to making funding available, his officials will work with the organisation to help identify other funding opportunities which they can tap into.

The Minister said he is acutely aware of the key role Home Start and other similar organisations play in their respective communities.

“In society, the family has broken down to some extent. Therefore, there’s a requirement for intervention and assisting people to develop the appropriate skills bases to give children the best start in life. This is something which I deem to be important,” he continued.

“I am well aware that if you give children a good start in life then you have better outcomes in terms of their education, health and justice issues. Much of the work carried out by Home Start also represents an investment in the future.”

Home Start’s senior organiser, Mrs. Dorothy McMullan, said confirmation that funding is to be made available is the “best Christmas present for the families the organisation supports.”

She continued: “This money represents a real lifeline for us. Our Newcastle office has been closed and we had to make two staff redundant, although the work of our volunteers in the town continues.

“Confirmation that we are to receive the money we need will ensure we continue our vital work in the Ballynahinch and Newcastle areas. We had feared our Ballynahinch office would have had to close and had planned to review its position after Christmas, but we won’t need to do that now.”

Mrs. McMullan said news of the Health Minister’s visit came out of the blue, but everyone associated with Home Start is “thrilled and delighted” that money is being made available.

She added: “This is the best Christmas present we could have asked for. The cash will see us through until the end of the financial year, but early in 2012 we will start to look at other possible funding sources.”

Strangford MP Jim Shannon welcomed the commitment to provide funding for Home Start and help it identity other funding opportunities.

“Home Start plays a key role at the heart of the community and the efforts of its volunteers is simply incalculable. In the last financial year it supported 196 families and 425 children across Down District. That is phenomenal in terms of front line provision,” he added.