A CHARITY facing closure is counting on the support of the public vote to help it win a £25,000 community grant.

Oxford Baby Café Group operates drop-in sessions every day across the city to support mothers who want to breastfeed but after cuts to its county council funding has been left to rely on donations to survive.

The community grant, supported by Aviva, up for grabs would secure the group's future for at least the next year.

Chairwoman Juliet Rayment said: "Oxfordshire is facing a community health crisis.

"We’re the only specialist feeding support for babies over six weeks left in Oxford.

"The council cut all of our funding last March and we’ve been left dependent solely on reserves and the amazing generosity of our service users and staff."

Mum-of-two Liz Horwell from Risinghurst decided to nominate the group for the Aviva Community Fund, which offers community groups the chance to win up to £25,000.

The 39-year-old said: "I started going to Baby Cafe when my eldest, Edward, was about six weeks old.

"I went because he was quite little and he was not putting on enough weight and I wanted a little bit of advice.

"It turned out to be a lifeline because I had actually suffered quite a traumatic birth and the ladies at Baby Cafe picked up on this and kept an eye on me.

"They supported me and put me in contact with people from the health visiting team."

Mrs Horwell who still goes to the cafe with her second son Oliver, now 15 months, said that the service was not just for more vulnerable parents, but all new mothers.

She added: "I am in no doubt that I would not have fed my son as well as I did, I would have given up much sooner.

"It is so vital for new parents who do not have the support of family close by.

"The service the cafe provides is absolutely unique because a lot of other breast feeding services are only for babies up to six weeks old."

Jen Pawsey who lives in Littlemore added: "If it wasn’t for Baby Café, I would not have been able to continue breastfeeding my son.

"Baby Cafe is a lifeline, and without it all parents would be worse off."

The group has already received more than 8,000 votes on the online system.

Project lead Lisa Mansour added: "The votes we’ve received so far show how many families rely on our professional, non-judgmental advice and the invaluable peer-to-peer support they get from visiting a Baby Café with their babies.

"It would be a tragedy for Oxford to lose an essential service like Baby Café, but this funding is really one of our last potential lifelines so I encourage everyone to vote before it’s too late."

For more information and to vote visit: bit.ly/votebabycafe before the poll closes on Friday.