Home-Start Herts is launching its Christmas fundraising challenge to help support vulnerable families during a difficult time.

The charity is taking part in the national Christmas Big Give campaign, which aims to cover the expected funding shortfall from cancelled festive events.

All donations will be doubled thanks to pledges from corporate supporters – meaning Home-Start’s fundraising target of £8,000 will be raised to £16,000.

Mum Jo from Hitchin was helped by Home-Start, which supports families with young children under five, when she was struggling to get out of bed due to depression.

Jo lives with her husband Dan and their three-year-old son, and before the coronavirus outbreak the family received weekly, one-to-one, home-visiting support from a Home-Start mentor.

When lockdown was enforced, they continued to receive weekly support from their volunteer mentor through phone and video calls.

From the weekly calls, it became apparent that being isolated and unable to go out was causing Jo’s depression to worsen, as they do not have a garden and Jo found going out for daily exercise overwhelming.

The volunteer mentor scheme increased support, and Jo’s mentor was able to share ideas about self-care routines, direct her to online support services and provide resources to help her with activities for her son.

Speaking about the campaign, Home-Start strategic manager Suzy Moody said: “This is the biggest fundraising challenge we have ever taken on, but we know we need to pull out all the stops this year as there are so many vulnerable families and young children who are just not coping with the impact of the ongoing COVID crisis.

“All donations made in the challenge week will be doubled, which is amazing. It means peoples donations make twice as much difference to local families.”

The challenge launches at midday on Tuesday, December 1, aiming to hit the fundraising target before it closes at midday on Tuesday, December 8.

Donations must be made during that week, and can be made at https://www.home-startherts.org.uk/biggive-campaign.

Home-Start helps families when they are overwhelmed, which can be due to bereavement, disability, mental health issues or other factors.