Following the successful launch of Home-Start Malta over the past year, the service is expected to expand and more parent volunteers will be providing their support to other parents.
The first annual report of Home-Start – which is supported by Vodafone Malta Foundation and HSBC Cares for Children Fund – was presented yesterday morning at Agenzija Appogg.
Giving an overview of the progress of the project, Catherine Fleri Soler, chairperson of the Home-Start Malta management committee, said nine volunteers, all of whom were parents, were engaged with Home-Start.
They offered support to families having at least one child younger than five years of age. At present, seven families and 18 children from the Cottonera area were benefiting from the service.
Ms Fleri Soler said residents in other localities had shown a keen interest in the project and it was now expected to expand to other localities including Zabbar, Zejtun and Fgura.
She said Home-Start was a push in the right direction to keep the family united, and the management committee made sure that volunteers were chosen very carefully.
“While anyone may be a volunteer, naturally we will choose people who believe in parenthood,” said Ms Fleri Soler, adding that a number of volunteers were following a preparatory course and would soon be ready to start delivering the service.
The course helps volunteers develop themselves personally, although it also equips them with the skills they will need when faced with certain situations.
Vodafone Malta Foundation chairperson Gemma Mifsud Bonnici said: “Through Home-Start, parents of very young children are being offered support, friendship and practical help in coping with ill health, disability, poverty and other social difficulties. The beauty of such a project is that support is not imposed by some authority, but volunteers are parents who may have been through similar experiences as the parents they are helping.
“Vodafone Malta Foundation believes in its commitment towards bettering conditions in the society we live in, and it is happy to be doing so by helping Appogg.”
Catherine Gonzi, HSBC Cares for Children Fund chairperson, was also present for yesterday’s event and she highlighted the fact that the fund has supported a number of Appogg’s community projects over the years.
“While also extending its support to the various primary schools in Cottonera, Vodafone Malta Foundation is also very happy to share in the success of Home-Start’s first year, which is reaping the fruit of a lot of hard work by many volunteers,” she said.
Joe Gerada, chief executive officer of the Foundation for Social Welfare Services, commended the efforts of the project’s management committee. He said that a year on, the enthusiasm showed by the committee and the volunteers shows that there is “no going back”.
“Enthusiasm is the value that moves social work and Home-Start is a very simple concept of supporting families with very young children. The project is therefore hugely profitable for society,” said Mr Gerada.
Home-Start founder Margaret Harrison explained that the project began in the UK in 1973 and since then, over 330 schemes have been developed.
Growing interest in the service led to the development of Home-Start International and there are now over 100 schemes in around 20 different countries.
Anyone who would like to work as a volunteer with Home-Start Malta, or benefit from the service, may contact Jacqueline Vella on 2167-8043 or 9901-8398, or by sending an e-mail to [email protected]. Further information may be obtained at www.appogg.gov.mt.