Duffy.

Duffy for NAPAC.
Apparently she won a load of awards at the BRITS last night. Good for her. Well done Duffy. Quite a few pop stars write songs that would seem to indicate that they know about abuse. I wish some of them would give napac a bit of support. Our freephone line is being deluged with calls and until we get the resources to expand we are restricted in how many people we can help. One thing that does my head in is when I read about some charities which not only pay massive salaries but even manage to make huge golden handshakes. I could hardly believe that Age Concern recently handed a former employee £800,000. Yes..........I repeat £800,000. That sort of money would run napac for the best part of 8 years. No wonder some people are wary of 'giving to charity'. Next time the local Age Concern rep knocks on my door I will have words. But I would clarify that much work done at local level by all sorts of charities, including Age Concern, is done voluntarily and with the very best of motives. But it also smacks of one of the many things wrong in this country. Those at the top taking the rest of us for a ride. Stuart Etherington, Chief Executive of NCVO (Nat. Council for Voluntary Organisations) was on BBC news yesterday morning and he pointed out how it is generally the poor who give most to charity. He's right of course. In the same way the poor pay more tax, pay more for everything they also give more to charity. NOT that I am knocking the better off people who support NAPAC !!! (they know who they are) ...we just need a lot more like you. Of course if every person in this country who suffered childhood abuse was to donate a pound to NAPAC, that would be the end of our financial worries.
As I sit here blogging I am conscious that my colleagues (sitting just accross from me) are beavering away at our second Big Lottery application. They are working their guts out while I'm sitting here having fun. So ....time to get back to work. We recently advertised for some new supervisors for our Support Line volunteer team and we were stunned at the level and the quality of the interest shown. We've just had to spend a lot of time sorting through the many applications we received to decide on candidates to interview. Not a task any of us enjoyed because it showed that there are a lot of people out there looking for work. Well, we've selected who we feel are some excellent candidates and I will let you know how they get on.
In the meantime..........don't forget to order your CDs (mentioned in earlier blogs) and if you live anywhere near The Standard Venue in Blackhorse Road, E17 then get along there on Thursday 2nd April (late evening) to watch Secret Mission perform live. You won't regret it! See you there?
Pete