Introduction by National President, Rose McGowan

Introduction by National President, Rose McGowan

After the Past Two Years We Must Return Rejuvenated to Our Core Work

This time last year I wrote in this publication that the past twelve months had been a time that most people wished to forget. Add another year, 2021, and that makes two years that most people wish to forget.

For many, it was missing being with their loved ones, parents, children and grandchildren, for much of the time. For others, it was the loneliness, and isolation, becoming unemployed, struggling to pay bills and, for many, not being able to mourn properly for so many who had died during the pandemic.

But now the tide has turned, the country is opening up again. While we remain cautious and for some, an understandable nervousness remains, hope is returning. Hope that we can put the past two years behind us and resume what we may consider a normal life.

However it will not be the same, for many there has been a gap in their lives which will never be filled; the loved ones gone, the jobs no longer available or the times with friends. For many young people and their families there will be the celebrations, birthdays and graduations, missed.

In time, some of the memories will fade and the hope which

I mentioned will take over.

We now need to harness that hope and turn it into a strong positive.

Our Society faced similar challenges to many organisations but we managed extraordinarily well to continue to support those who sought our help. That is down to all our members, volunteers and staff who worked so diligently during the past two years. We are extremely grateful to everyone. As I said last year, that thanks extends to those who saw that stepping away from their voluntary roles to protect themselves, their families and those whom they would normally visit, was the right thing to do for them. We look forward to welcoming many of those back to active visitation.

As members and volunteers know, 2021 was an extraordinary year for the Society in terms of calls for help. There were just over 191,000 calls recorded on our CRM system. A record number. While there would have been some people seeking help on more than one occasion, that number would probably be balanced by those whose calls went direct to some Conferences and didn’t make it into the system.

One very pleasing aspect of the past two years was the way the public and corporate bodies continued to support us. Despite losing considerable money with church gate collections halted and our shops closed for long periods, we continued to receive support from a strong donation stream and a host of fund-raising efforts.

As a result, we were able to continue to provide help through telephone and online contact with food, vouchers or other needs. Stories of the creativity of our members and volunteers in finding ways to provide help were impressive. From co-operating with other organisations and frontline services, such as firefighters, the army and the police; establishing food banks or individuals cycling around to drop off vouchers. Now it is back to what we do best and to what we are renowned for, Home Visitation. Many Conferences have returned to active Visitation and many others are assembling their resources to do so in the coming weeks.

We are about responding to need and the best way to do that is by sitting with people, spending time with them and listening. That has been the ethos of the Society from the days of our founder Blessed Frederic Ozanam.

Our mission is to provide support and friendship and this has been difficult to do over the telephone or through emailing or texting.

We are now at every level of the Society; Conferences, Areas, Regional Councils and National Management Council, able to get back to meeting face-to-face again and renewing the friendships with those who found Zoom or Teams meetings difficult or unsatisfactory ways of communicating.

To support Visitation Conferences and other areas of our work; shops, children and family support services and social housing, we have embarked on a national recruitment campaign. The response to date has been very encouraging and with regional campaigns continuing over the coming months we are very confident that we will have the resources to continue to support those who seek our help as strongly and with as much empathy and friendship as ever.

My hope is that we all return to our role in the Society rejuvenated and more determined than ever to serve and advocate for those in need as well as the marginalised in our society.