Newsletter for Volunteers from Home-Start West Lothian Tel: 01506 415755 Email: admin@homestartwl.org.uk Date: October 2015 Issue no.3 FESTIVE FAMILY FOOD HAMPERS It’s that time again when we‘re starting to think of the festivities ahead but Christmas isn’t Christmas without that special family dinner! We would like to be able to offer our families a Food Hamper, which we have done in previous years thanks to kind donations from local people and companies like Stoddart’s of Broxburn, Food Options Limited and Russell Investments. We hope everyone will come together and help us again this year. Are you able to help us achieve our goal by making a donation through our BT Mydonate page? http://mydonate.bt.com/events/hswlfestivefamilyfoodhampers/249159 Or you may want to donate non-perishable foods e.g. pasta, soup, tea, coffee etc which you can drop off at our office from 1st November onwards: Also, we are looking for organisations to contact to seek donations of tinned goods or gift vouchers for our Family Christmas Hampers - if you know of anyone who can help please let us know. Thank you! FAMILY CHRISTMAS PARTY Staying on our Christmas theme…We are desperately looking for Volunteer Drivers to help at our Christmas Party which will take place at The Hive, Bathgate on Friday 11th December from 4.30pm – 6.30pm. Last year was a great event but the transport costs were very expensive and this has a huge impact on us! If you are able to help out or even just bring your own Home-Start family along, please let Lesley or Emily know. Thank you! FAMLY GROUP HELPERS Anyone interested in helping out at our Family Groups in Blackburn, Broxburn or Livingston, please contact Lesley or Emily for more information! Home-Start West Lothian: Cameron House, 13a Fairbairn Road, Livingston, West Lothian EH54 6TS A Charity Registered in Scotland, No SC 029770 Company Limited by Guarantee No: 280852 Page 1 ON-GOING TRAINING Ruth Hood from ABE (Adult Basic Education) is coming to talk about ABE, the services they offer and how to spot someone who has numeracy or literacy needs and how to help them. If you would like to attend the training here in Cameron House, please contact Carol-Anne ASAP to book a place on 01506 415755. ABE – Help me, Help you. Monday 9th November 1.00pm – 3.00pm BACK TO SCHOOL BANK - WINTER WARMERS APPEAL In addition to their school uniform collection, the Back to School Bank are also appealing for Winter Warmers - anything that will keep our kids warm in the Scottish winter while they are at school. They are specifically looking for new items, but will accept good quality used items also. Any donations can be dropped off the HomeStart office! They are also accepting referrals, so if your family would benefit from this all we need is a list of items required and size! TRAVEL EXPENSES Over the next few months we will be beginning to pay your monthly travel expenses directly into your bank account to help us reduce the cost of paper and postage. We will be asking you to provide your bank details to enable us to process the payments, however if you prefer to still receive a cheque then please let Gillian know. STRATEGIC PLAN UPDATE Thank you to our Volunteers, Trustees and Staff who came along to our recent Strategic Plan Update meeting - if you have any suggestions for improvement regarding our service please feel free to get in touch with Shelley on manager@homestartwl.org.uk or call for a chat on 01506 415755. If you'd like to receive a copy of the Plan please let us know. Also thank you to everyone who took the time to complete the Volunteer evaluations, this information is invaluable to us. If you have not received the letter regarding this, please contact Gillian. Home-Start West Lothian: Cameron House, 13a Fairbairn Road, Livingston, West Lothian EH54 6TS A Charity Registered in Scotland, No SC 029770 Company Limited by Guarantee No: 280852 Page 2 STORAGE SPACE REQUIRED We have been very fortunate with donations recently and although we have some storage space here in Cameron House, it’s all filling up very quickly and we would therefore be very grateful if anyone has garage or shed space where they could store things for us for a short while until we are ready for them. If you can help out, please contact the office and let us know how much space you’ve got. Thank you so much! STRUCTURED DIARY Can we remind you that we really need your Structured Diary for every week – even when you don’t visit, we need to know that too. This is really important information that we need to log on to our system otherwise all the hard and fantastic work you do will not be recognised!!! Please remember to e-mail or post your Diary to us each month or bring them with you when you come for your Support and Supervision meeting. Thank you. STAFF MOBILE NUMBERS Remember you can contact Shelley, Carol-Anne or Lisa at any time if you need them or if there is an emergency. Shelley Bowman: - 07958 429 531 e-mail – manager@homestartwl.org.uk Carol-Anne Fordyce: - 07958 429 532 e-mail coordinator@homestartwl.org.uk Lisa Stark: - 07506 948786 e-mail – 2coordinator@homestartwl.org.uk Home-Start West Lothian: Cameron House, 13a Fairbairn Road, Livingston, West Lothian EH54 6TS A Charity Registered in Scotland, No SC 029770 Company Limited by Guarantee No: 280852 Page 3