Winsome is the director of Kiwanis club London, an international club that is 183 years old and started as a lunch time club for businesses then changed to a service and social club. It started in America and its popular there as well as in  Jamaica and Canada. They support Young carers by organising activities and taking them out on trips. Kiwanis got inspired by Dolly Parton's Imagination library whereby children are sent books from birth to the age of 5 for parents and capable siblings to read to them.They wanted to pilot the project at the Peppermint and Canterbury children centres. They carried out a survey with 120 children and results showed that parents, especially mothers from non- English speaking families, benefited from this project. It helped them to  improve their English, develop confidence to go out and look for jobs. Parents who could not read English at all were helped by older siblings in school; as they were reading to the younger ones, the parents joined in too.

Books are sent with children's names on them, which makes the children excited and attached to the them.They are looking to start the project in September 2018 with 20 children. They obtained some funding from BLBG and application forms are being distributed to local parents. The books will be given to children from the age of 3+ and there is a possibility to roll it out from the age of 2yrs!

For more information on this idea and to get involved, contact our Best Start ABCD community builder for Broad Green Lorrainep@acorns2oaks.net

Akeh wants to set up a peer to peer group to support professional and aspiring professional mums and women to have a work-life balance and also use their passions, skills, ideas and knowledge to give back to the community. She wants to support single mother to be independent and has run two sessions so far.

For more information on this idea and to get involved, contact our Best Start ABCD community builder for Broad Green Lorrainep@acorns2oaks.net

Tracey from Guiding hands has initiated, through our Community builder, Tasty Tuesday at the Peppermint children Centre and Canterbury for families with young children. Sessions were publicised on Face Book, Twitter and through Croydon Best Start. Four sessions have been delivered so far! For more information on this idea and to get involved, contact our Best Start ABCD community builder for Broad Green Lorrainep@acorns2oaks.net