The Charity Awards

People are remarkable, but one theme that ran through many of the conversations I had on Thursday night, was a sense of anxious anticipation.

This article was originally published in The Stornoway Gazette.

Presenting the award to Back on the Map. Picture from https://charityawards.co.uk/the-2022-charity-awards-gallery/

It was a privilege last week to present the award for “Social Care, Advice and Support” at the Charity Awards in London. It went to Back on the Map, which works locally in a ward in Sunderland to help people in need of a quality home. It purchases and refurbishes houses, helps vulnerable people move, then runs a wide range of community services from the rental income. It was so enlightening to speak to those involved in the charity after their win. Their passion for the people in their area was notable. One woman now works for the charity having been helped by them years ago when she moved to the area in extreme need of help. 

It was also important to hear one of the staff members explain how the need in their area is getting noticeably worse. One lady, Pat, has worked at the charity since it began and is from the local area. She said people’s own situations are deteriorating, and quickly - and so they come in the doors of Back on the Map in need of support. Thankfully, the charity has five years of secured funding and so will continue to help those in need. 

The room, at the Royal Lancaster hotel near Hyde Park in London, was packed with almost 500 people from the charity sector - from recognisable names like Macmillan Cancer Support, to local charities like Back on the Map and the others in my category: Cyfannol Women’s Aid, which worked with their local police force to have their specialist advisers attend domestic abuse incidents alongside officers to provide crisis support to survivors and help them access services for as long as they need; and Ripple Suicide Prevention, which developed a web browser extension to intercept searches relating to self-harm or suicide and re-directs the person searching to a selection of mental health resources and displays a positive message of hope.

It struck me - and not for the first time - that people are remarkable. Hundreds of people gathered in that room to celebrate one another’s devotion to helping. In the Social Care, Advice and Support category alone, you can see the huge range of charities that exist, to try to tackle the issues in our society, and bridge the gap between those in need, and those who can provide help to them.

As it happens, I ended up sitting next to Cathy Phelan, the organiser of the awards event. She’s from Civil Society Media which tries to improve diversity among journalists. She’s also member 836 of the Times Radio Early Breakfast Club (which I hope you’ve read about here before. I’ve now moved in our schedule to present Breakfast on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, but the #EBC is now under the care of my colleague Anna Cunningham). We had a wonderful conversation about how those in the charity sector are by no means ordinary, in fact they are extraordinary. 

One theme that ran through many of the conversations I had on Thursday night, was a sense of anxious anticipation. There has been much detail reported on the scale of the cost of living crisis that is unfolding. This week, workers’ anger at their pay has played out across the country as strikes by rail workers grind trains to a halt. As of Monday, there was going to be a week to wait before you could get from Mallaig to London by rail, reported Simon Calder of The Independent on Times Radio last weekend. Across the country, there is a growing atmosphere of discontent as bills and costs go up, and wages lag behind. Before long, teachers may strike. There is even talk of a general strike across the UK. 

At the Charity Awards, as ever, those who help are standing by to continue doing so. But they are anxiously anticipating a rising need and questioning whether they will be able to match it. One union leader said this week that it is a “national disgrace” that some full-time workers are having to use food banks. Advice from the likes of Money Saving Expert Martin Lewis and The Bootstrap Cook, Jack Monroe - who suggests ways to cook on a budget - is, by their own admission, drying up: there’s nowhere else for people to cut. Jack makes the point that while she can provide cost effective recipes, that doesn’t mean when you come to cook them you can afford to turn on the gas for the hob, or electricity for the oven.

Charities are staffed by extraordinary people, who do not sit still while there are people who need them.

Charities across the country stand ready to intervene in situations where state support doesn’t, or can’t, exist. Charities are staffed by extraordinary people, who do not sit still while there are people who need them. For the next few months, and probably years, the level of need is going to rocket and charity workers will become the frontline of supporting and aiding the most vulnerable in our society. The Charity Awards are a wonderful, and deserved, way of recognising their efforts, but I wonder if our recognition should turn to impactful action to support the supporters. For advice at home, it might be an idea to speak to Third Sector Hebrides who can guide on how to help. They’re going to need it.