A North Hampshire charity is ecstatic after scooping the top prize in a national competition.
Stepping Stones Down's Syndrome support group was awarded £10,000 as part of coffee company Douwe Egberts’ national competition.
The Be A Local Star campaign picked Stepping Stones out of a shortlist of 14 other charities across the country.
Charity co-founder Sharon Smith from Hook said: “I am still blown away by the news. We thought we had a chance to win one of the three prizes but to win the top prize is amazing.
“I feel so proud for winning. It is a tribute to what we have all achieved for such a small charity.
“At the time, I was absolutely speechless. We had spent the last three months talking about this. So when we were told, all we could do is sit there with our mouths open.
“Then the months and months of work, and all the emotion that had gone into it just came out.”
The competition presented three charities with a £10,000, £5,000 and £3,000 prize. The aim was to reward organisations with an annual income of under £50,000 some much-needed cash.
The judging panel was headed by environmentalist Dick Strawbridge alongside chief executive of the Small Charities Coalition Cath Lee and Douwe Egberts’ marketing director, Kerry Owens.
Mr Strawbridge said: “Stepping Stones is a very lively, local charity intent on helping families explore and achieve the potential of their Down’s syndrome children. This charity may be very small and local, but their dedication is apparent.”
The charity was launched in 2006 by Mrs Smith and Emma Hall.
Both were inspired to set up Stepping Stones to help families dealing with the condition. Mrs Smith’s six-year-old daughter, Tamzie, and Mrs Hall’s, eldest daughter, Isla, six, both have Down’s.
To date, Stepping Stones has helped 71 families.
The cash will fund a communication group providing speech and language therapy for children aged 18-months-old to five.
Mrs Smith said the course will be open to 17 families. Her own daughter benefited from the programme when it was first launched three-years-ago.
She said: “Tamzie did it when she was three-years-old and throughout the year you could see her development.
“I have seen the long-term benefits the communication group brings. Today, I can see the value of the work we did three-years-ago.
“Now she goes to a mainstream school and has mainstream friends who she can communicate with.
“It has built her vocabulary amd will benefit her for the rest of her life.”
