Since receiving the grant funding from the ACF, Home-Start Cyprus WSBA have been busy continuing to support the families of deployed military personnel here on island. Our intentions were to focus on well-being and self-care to provide some light relief to the military families whose service person was/is currently deployed. This would take shape in the form of 3 separate initiatives; care packages, twilight sessions and pamper nights. At present, we have made good headway in 2 of these incentives and are looking forward to rolling out the remaining projects.
In April, nominations opened for our ‘Pause & Pamper’ care packages. Home-Start WSBA staff carefully curated the packages which included a face mask, under eye mask, mug, herbal tea bag, scented candle, bath bomb and a chocolate treat! Taking costings into consideration, we set a limit of 50 packages. A Microsoft form was created and put out to the community where nominations could be made giving reason as to why the recipient was deserving of a care package and nominators had the option to remain anonymous or to include a special message. Nominations soon flooded in and they were truly heart-warming to read. The descriptions given proved just how far reaching Home-Start WSBA’s work has gone into creating compassionate communities. Staff members and volunteers hand delivered the care packages to unsuspecting nominees and it was truly joyful to spread the community spirit to our military families. Staff and volunteers are in agreement that this incentive went really well and the only downside was that we wish we could have had more packages to hand out as the nominations we received exceeded the 50 that we had made.
Quotes from nominees in receipt of a care package said:
“I didn’t expect this at all! I wonder who nominated me?”
“What a lovely surprise. That’s really made my day. Thank you so much.”
“I can’t wait to treat myself to a cuppa and a face mask when the kids have gone to bed tonight”.
Our second venture, the twilight sessions, began on 4th June 2025 and were aimed at families who struggle to stick to bedtime routines whilst their service person is deployed, resulting in lack of and poor/broken sleep for the household. The sessions ran for 4 weeks from 17:45 – 19:15, with the final session being just last night! Our intention was to provide practical support and tips for establishing good bedtime routines which families could continue to use once the course of sessions ended.
Staff complied together lots of useful resources from The Sleep Charity, as referenced in the Healthy Happy Home Course (Food, Sleep, Finance and Play) which we have all completed via the iSpring learning centre. We also reached out to other local agencies, including the dental centre and a dietician from SSAFA, who happily contributed their knowledge and resources to support with teeth-brushing, the importance of diet and sleep and general advice for different aged children.
Initially sign-up to the sessions was slow, and after speaking to families at our other child-focused groups, it became apparent that some people were reluctant to attend as they thought it was going to be a very formal, seminar-type event. To combat this, we amended the poster and information that we shared with the community to really embed that these sessions are designed to be parents supporting parents, and a fun and engaging way for children to learn new routines. After this, sign-up numbers grew. We limited the sessions to 10 children maximum so that we could maintain that calming, low-stimulus environment that is so important when it comes to bedtime.
Feedback from the twilight sessions has been, on the whole, very positive. Parents and children alike have enjoyed the activities on offer, said that the supper provided was nutritious and filling and generally delighted in spending quality time together in our warm, welcoming environment. Sharing bedtime stories at the end of the session was a particularly anticipated part of the session.
Upon sharing photos of the sessions with our community, families have since highlighted that they felt the timing of the session’s stopped people from signing-up. Several families explained that they would have loved to attend, but that their children go to bed before the end of the session time. This is something we will take into consideration in future.
Our plan is to complete 4 x courses of the twilight sessions over the year and preparations are under way to set dates for the next block. We have already established that the timing of the sessions will be earlier, and we plan to put out a questionnaire to the community for any further suggestions.
We look forward to sharing the successes of future twilight sessions with you all soon!
Quotes from twilight session families:
“The space is so lovely, it’s really calm in here and we love the twinkly lights.”
“The supper ideas have been great, it gives you new ideas at home. My girls loved the banana almond smoothies and we made them for Daddy on Father’s Day.”
The next step for Home-Start WSBA is to begin preparations for pamper evenings that we want to host for families of deployed personnel. Again these will focus on well-being and self-care and give community members a chance to relax and unwind, in an environment where they can network and share the lived experience of military families in Cyprus. We have lots of ideas planned and can’t wait to share what we achieve in the next update!
We hope that other LHS projects are going well and we can’t wait to find out more about what everyone else has been up to.
Until the next time,
Team Home-Start Cyprus WSBA