Northamptonshire Community Foundation - Community Hero of the Week

Home-Start helps families with young children deal with whatever life throws at them, supporting parents and their children through services including home visits, fundraising events and stay and play sessions.

Home-Start Kettering realised that local families wanted to attend their stay and play sessions but were struggling to get there due to a lack of access to transport. Following a grant award from Northamptonshire Community Foundation’s Rural Community Needs Fund, Home-Start Kettering can now cover the cost of taxis to transport families from local rural villages to and from their sessions.

The Rural Community Needs Fund was established by Northamptonshire Community Foundation last year, following a successful fundraising campaign that aimed to support local rural communities to receive their fair share of funding.

The foundation is the county’s leading independent grant-making charity, providing much-needed and often life-changing grants to some of Northamptonshire’s most in-need residents. During the 2023/24 financial year, the foundation achieved their biggest grant-making year yet, awarding more than £2.9 million.