Families charity Home-Start Wessex is delighted to announce the opening of its first-ever family charity shop and family support hub in Christchurch, Dorset.
Work began last year to transform empty retail units in Christchurch, Dorset, redesigning and refitting the space to create a retail shop and a reading corner for families. Shelves and racks are now full of clothing, toys, and equipment for children and their parents.
Shop staff will be able to signpost families to the support the charity offers and will host regular activities, such as storytime sessions, to bring local families together. There is also an online shop to help extend the charity’s retail reach.
For 30 years, Home-Start Wessex has supported families in crisis, facing mental health struggles, financial hardship, isolation, bereavement, domestic abuse, multiple births, parenting challenges, and life in homeless shelters, providing vital help when it is needed most. Their services include specially trained volunteers visiting mums at home, early intervention for high-needs families, and community-based groups. The charity currently runs 12 drop-in and referral-only groups across Dorset, including 2 for homeless mums in hostels.
Over the last year, the charity has transformed 1,716 lives, helping a record 526 families. Their reach covers the Purbecks, Swanage, Weymouth, Dorchester, Bridport, the whole of the BCP Council area, including Bournemouth, Poole and Christchurch, across the borders of Hampshire and Wiltshire, going as far north as Cranborne and Fordingbridge and as far east as New Milton – a huge area with a population of over 650,000, including many pockets of high-level deprivation.
Kathy Fryatt-Banks, CEO of Home-Start Wessex, said, “Opening our first-ever charity shop is an exciting milestone in our charity’s development. Over the past few years, we have experienced significant growth, doubling our geographic reach across West Dorset, doubling the number of families we support, and more than tripling the number of support groups we run.
The retail shop will deliver an essential revenue stream for the charity, while also enabling us to reach families in and around Christchurch in a new way. After such a huge amount of hard work, it’s fantastic to see the space transformed into a warm and welcoming environment for families that’s also functional as a retail unit. Special thanks must go to the Big Lottery, Talbot Village Trust, the SNG Commercial Support Fund (Sovereign Network Group), the Bernard Sunley Foundation, Tesco and J. P. Morgan. Their funding and support have helped to make our vision a reality.”
The shop in Saxon Square is now open to the public and will be open six days a week, run by a team of staff and volunteers.
The charity is actively recruiting kind and compassionate volunteers to assist in the shop, as well as volunteers to provide emotional and practical support to parents with young children across Dorset. If you could spare a few hours a week to help local families through challenging times and make a difference in your community, please contact office@homestartwessex.org.uk. No experience is needed – just a big heart and a listening ear, as full training and ongoing support are provided.
The charity is also accepting donations of good-quality clothing, toys, and equipment for the shop. Items can be dropped off at the shop during opening hours.
