During 2020 Caritas Shrewsbury has experienced major changes, perhaps overshadowed by the worst public health crisis for a generation, but none the less, significant.
Caritas said goodbye to its former Chief Executive, Mary Kilcoyne, who retired in March. Mary joined the Catholic Children’s Society back in 1988 working in the community, and later became its Director before Chief Executive Officer, ushering in the transition to Caritas. We want to thank Mary for all the work she did on behalf of Catholic Children’s Society and Caritas, and we hope she enjoys her retirement!
We would like to say a warm welcome to our new Chief Executive Ben Gilchrist who joined us on 7th September. Ben comes with a wealth of experience in international and community work, and irrepressible passion for people empowerment and social justice! Ben, we are delighted you have joined us and look forward to working with you.
During challenging times leaders rise and this is exactly what happened within Caritas. Trish Spencer, our Family Support Services Manager, became the Acting Chief Executive during the interim period before Ben joined us. With the devastating impact of the COVID-19 pandemic across the globe, our Diocese and local communities were effected as adversely as the rest of the nation. Being led by Trish, Caritas was pro-active and continued to support those most vulnerable within our communities. We want to thank Trish, for her commitment, resilience and unwavering sense of humour! Trish is now our Deputy Chief Executive, and we look forward to this new chapter in our story.
Last but by no means least, Caritas would like to say a huge thank you to its staff and volunteers who have all been truly incredible during these unprecedented times and worked tirelessly to support not only existing children, families and individuals, but also new families who have experienced crisis throughout the pandemic. Workloads doubled but staff and volunteers, including new volunteers, adapted, persevered, and supported everyone we work with as well as each other, and for that we are truly grateful. A fantastic team showing what Caritas means and all we can achieve together into the future.
If you would like to get involved please do get in touch: https://www.caritasshrewsbury.org.uk/contact/
