Home-Start receives £3,500 from SERC

A team of young people from South Eastern Regional College (SERC), Bouncing Babies, donated £3,500 to children’s charity Home-Start.
Money For Life 139JC13Money For Life 139JC13
Money For Life 139JC13

Bouncing Babies were also crowned UK Grand Final winners in Halifax’s Money for Life Challenge, a national competition designed to inspire better money management skills in their community.

Last Friday, at a ceremony at SERC’s Lisburn Campus the team of young people aged between 19 and 21, donated the charity cheque to the Home-Start Lisburn/Colin Scheme.

Home-Start was the chosen charity for Bouncing Babies who fought off stiff competition from all over the country with their innovative project designed to increase awareness around the importance of financial budgeting and financial education for students and the local community.

Established in 1973 the charity has supported thousands of families and children in communities across the UK. It helps parents to build better lives for their children, and has more than 310 local support groups.

The Lisburn branch is one of 23 local groups in Northern Ireland. Home-Start Lisburn/Colin supported 73 families and 172 children during the year 2012/13. The scheme has 32 volunteers and offers home visiting support and courses.

The team set up a support group for young mothers, with weekly speakers that covered a broad range of topics from student finance and childcare costs to living well for less and healthy recipes on a budget.

The Bouncing Babies team attended the Money for Life Challenge UK Grand Final in Central London in May.

Ian Murray from Home-Start said: “We are delighted to be Bouncing Babies chosen charity following their success in Halifax’s Money for Life Challenge. The team should be very pleased of how well they have done.”

Ken Webb, Chief Executive of SERC, said: “Bouncing Babies project was impressive from the start of the Challenge, through the way they publicised their great work to the development of a wide range of skills across the team of young people.

“I’d like to extend my congratulations to all involved at SERC’s Lisburn Campus, in particular the tutor Marie McCann, and I’m delighted to see the money go back into our local community through Home-Start.”

Young people interested in taking on the Challenge can enter the 2013/14 contest at moneyforlifechallenge.org.uk, More details on Facebook www.facebook.com/moneyforlifeuk and Twitter at www.twitter.com/moneyforlifeuk