James is a male Home Start volunteer completely surrounded in a female dominated voluntary organisation, his presence amongst his peer volunteers, trustees and staff is charming and loveable. James has a gentleman like approach and makes everyone feel at ease around him. During one tough safeguarding training event James utilised this great charisma and charmed his way round a funding investigator and guess what it worked and we got the cheque!

Thanks for that James, you took one for the team! James became a Home Start volunteer following a very upsetting personnel tragedy within his own family, he has miraculously pulled himself and the rest of his family back together, drawn strength, re-assessed his own look out on life from this harrowing event and taken forward positive action to help others. To James’s own endeavour and sometimes difficult undertaking James has become an extremely conscientious, reliable, sensible with an honest approach to life and its consequences Home Start volunteer.

James asked if he would be able to help a family with a specific need he could identify with, which we were admittedly a little nervous about this request, but James’s perception and depth of understanding of what the family were experiencing has improved the chances for this family to in my mind an inconceivable and hard to believe progressive outcome, and I know if they could the family would nominate James as well.