You can be too cynical.
Some time last autumn I took a telephone call from a web designer offering to redesign our site for free. Shell shocked by years of receiving hard sell down the phone line, I initially was dubious expecting some kind of scam or at least a sting in the tail with hidden extras.
Sometimes it's good to be proven wrong. Diana Stylianou had read our existing web site and was excited by what we were setting out to achieve. Her best way of helping us was to give us free of charge an exciting new website with a totally new look. Now seems a good opportunity to say thank you to Diana for her initiative, to pay tribute to her creative flair and to acknowledge the time that has been taken up to help us help others.
Perhaps it is also a good time to say that we are looking for funds not only for the families and causes we support but also for ourselves. We have been fortunate that our work has been sustained by personal donations and that we have not taken anything for our own needs from the very generous donations that have been received.
Administration is always a very dirty word where charities are concerned. But even as charity, we have to pay for the roof over our heads, the phone calls we make, the stamps for the thank you letters we send out. Quite rightly our books have to be checked and audited. And we have to be there to answer queries and give advice. Donations now given directly to the 2Simple Trust will be used to provide these core services without which we cannot help others. We also really need introductions to charitable trusts who recognise that the "back-room" can be as important as the front window!!!
The beginning of a new website, the fashioning of a new identity.
Today is another mark in the development of a remarkable charity.
I had worked in the field both as an employee of a charity and later as a consultant for a cumulative period of around 35 years. What was new, challenging and very different was to become personally involved with the people we were helping.
In the past when I had worked for the elderly, I visited old age homes and occasionally I would get to know a resident. When I worked for children with learning difficulties, I recognised some of the teenagers in the Village we maintained. Very rarely would I know any of the families, be they parents or children.
Suddenly I was thrown into a fast moving and developing situation. Long standing and deep relationships had been established and I was the new boy, not knowing who was who, who did what.
Now I am humbled by the dedication and love that I have found, not only among family members and work colleagues but literally total strangers. It has shown a sometime cynic that there is room for compassion in this often sad old world. Now we want to bring our message to a wider audience and to offer our services to those we do not yet know as well as those who have become treasured friends.