Kairos Chair features as Trustee of the Month
We were delighted to learn that our current Chair, Jane Osmond is featured as this month’s Trustee of the Month at CTN, that national network for trustees. The feature, that can be read in full here, showcases Jane’s role as a trustee and Chair.
If you’re thinking of becoming a trustee, Jane shares some of her experiences including her motivation, the challenges and satisfactions:
What particularly attracted you to this organisation?
KairosWWT offers safe spaces to women caught up in sex work in Coventry. As a woman, I immediately empathised with the Charity’s cause, in that most women struggle on a day to day basis to achieve equality in general: for our service users, even the concept of equality is too abstract to impact on their lives. KairosWWT offers service users an outreach and drop-in service, floating support, befriending, a day centre and prison in-reach visits. All these are aimed at encouraging our service-users to interact with us in a supportive environment, where they are treated with respect: and if they choose to make a move to exit sex work we will give them as much help as we can to facilitate this.
What’s the biggest challenge you have faced in your role?
Approaching a stage in 2010 where we did not have adequate funding to continue beyond 6 months. This led us to put in a Big Lottery Foundation bid which we worked really hard on. When we got notification that we were successful we were astounded and, obviously, vastly relieved! We are very grateful to the Big Lottery Foundation for considering our Charity as worthy of the grant.
What do you consider to be the most satisfying aspect of your role?
The chance to make a difference. We are such a small charity that every decision the board makes has a direct impact on the lives of our service users and the process we go through to get these decisions right is one of the most rewarding experiences I have ever had.
Inspired by Jane’s story? You can find out more about becoming a trustee with Kairos WWT by getting in touch with Jane chair@kairoswwt.org.uk
Our thanks go to Jane for her hard-work, energy and commitment and to our other trustees who play a hugely significant role in the provision of our much needed services in Coventry.