saiqa-twins-homestart-camden-islington-cucumber-clothing-donation

This is Saiqa and her beautiful twins. Cucumber is delighted to be able to support Homestart Camden and Islington this Christmas with a 10% donation off all our sales from today until the end of the month. We will also be donating masks from our mask donation programme.

Homestart says, 

'Home-Start Camden and Islington provides practical and emotional support to parents of children under five who are struggling to cope with everyday life. Parents are referred to our service with a range of needs, including isolation, mental health conditions or disabilities, being in temporary or inappropriate housing, or having experienced domestic abuse. In 2019/20 we supported 179 families, helping 343 children and working with 93 volunteers. 

Our aim is to improve parents’ wellbeing and to give them practical help that meets each family’s individual needs. We work with families with children under the age of five because the first years of a child’s life are the most important for their future and we want to make those years count. 

Parents are matched with a trained volunteer who visits the parent in their home for as long as they need support. 

Volunteers are recruited from the local area and all have experience in parenting meaning theyunderstand what parents are going through.  

Parents tell us our support changes their lives and their children’s lives. We’ve kept helping families during the Covid-19 crisis through telephone/online support as well as providing supermarket vouchers and essential items to families who are struggling to get by. 

Recently one of the mums we support told us how much of a difference we'd made to her life. She lives in temporary accommodation in a high-rise building and has a disability which makes it hard for her to get down the stairs with her twin children. When our support worker Saiqa visited her for the first time since lockdown she hadn't been able to leave the house since March and has been relying on a local foodbank bringing her food. We've helped her to get better housing and to access services to support with her disability as well as helping her simply leave the house so her children can play in the park or visit the library. The mum is very isolated and has told us that our visits and calls keep her going through the week - she says nobody else cares so much about her and her children. '

To find out more about Homestart - Camden and Islington please visit their site.