IMAGINE withdrawing £10 from a cash machine and getting £20 back from the bank in gratitude for your custom.
It’s an unlikely scenario, but that’s exactly the deal an East Hampshire charity will get this week if well-wishers make a donation.
This week is a massive one for Home-Start Butser as the Petersfield charity will receive £2 for every £1 donated through www.thebiggive.org.uk
The charity, which provides support for vulnerable and struggling families in communities on both sides of Butser Hill, wants to raise £10,000 for its Give Families Hope campaign.
The project aims to break a cycle of despair by giving support to parents who are suffering from mental health problems while bringing up children.
Around 60 per cent of the parents Home-Start Butser supports identify with mental health issues, particularly depression and anxiety.
“Without our support, they get caught in a cycle of despair, and some have no resources to break the cycle,” said the charity’s scheme manager, Nicola Winter.
“This has serious and long-term effects on young children. Without our support, more parents and children would remain vulnerable.”
Nicola added: “The adage, it take a village to raise a child’, is proven time and again through H0me-Start Butser volunteers. They are trained to avert crisis and tackle the devastation mental health problems can wreak on young children, bringing hope of recovery.
“Through a long-term relationship, they help parents overcome their condition, see a doctor, talk to a counsellor, develop friendships and enjoy life again.
“They provide parents with the support they need to give their children vital love and care.”
Dozens of supporters have already pledged cash but, of course, the £10,000 will be doubled by The Big Give through its Christmas Challenge 2018 if that sum is raised.
It costs a £1,000 to support a family for a year so £10,000, after being doubled, would give hope to 20 more families over the next 12 months.
The clock is ticking for well-wishers as The Big Give will only match fund donations until noon next Tuesday, December 4.
Anyone who would like to make a double donation to Home-Start Butser can find information about the Give Families Hope project and a link to the Big Give through www.homestart-butser.org.uk
The Big Give Christmas Challenge was founded by the entrepreneur and philanthropist Sir Alec Reed and is the UK’s biggest online match-funding campaign.
Since 2008, the Big Give has helped raise over £98m for thousands of charities through match funding.
Numerous firms have teamed up with the organisation to offer match funding, with donors including The Reed Foundation, People’s Postcode Lottery, Childhood Trust, Waterloo Foundation, Helping Hand Trust and Candis among others.