Source: Portsmouth News
Struggling families that can't afford to go on holiday are being given the chance, thanks to the adventures of a man in South America.Peter Hubbard is travelling the continent that is home to the Amazon rainforest and the Inca trail in order to help inner city families go on a similar life-changing holiday.
The 28-year-old from Hambledon is hoping the low-budget trek across several countries can raise thousands of pounds to help Mothers' Union and its Away From It All holiday scheme.
His mum Alison, 63, a retired nurse, has been working with the charity for the past decade giving families from the Portsmouth area a much-needed break in the country. Many of families are suffering financially, have suffered a bereavement or have too many children to contemplate a getaway.
But the country retreat at Lodge Hill, a 29-bedroom former hunting lodge in Pulborough, near Arundel, West Sussex, gives parents and their children a fun week away with activities such as climbing, mountain biking and performing arts.
Mr Hubbard, who is being sponsored by friends and family to go on the South American trek to raise cash for the project, said: 'The holiday scheme is a simple idea: give a holiday to people under stress.
'I first became aware of its existence when mum asked me to come along and help for the week.
'My help, such as it was, pretty much went as far as making sand castles and playing games with the kids.
'Slowly it dawned on me that the mother of these kids probably hadn't had any time to herself since her children were born, and how revitalising such a simple holiday was for her.'
A team of 12 volunteers help organise the holiday every year for one week for 13 families, who are referred by schools and other agencies such as Sure Start.
Just one week costs the charity £12,000.
Mrs Hubbard, of West Street, Hambledon, who has been organising holidays for families for more than 10 years, added: 'It's beautiful up there. We take a lot of families from inner city Portsmouth who live in cramped accommodation.
'The families are often dysfunctional. We can give safe space for the children to run around in.
'The families are always very grateful and appreciative. It helps them in a huge amount of ways. They realise they are not on their own to be families that are struggling.
'They make really good friendships.'