Coffee with Elizabeth
Elizabeth has supported WLAC for over 23 years (and fortunately for us, shows no sign of stopping now!).
Elizabeth explained that as a young parent with children at Ravenscourt Park Preparatory School, she was keen to give time and energy to a local charity supporting vulnerable children and their families. In simple terms, she understood the challenges of family life and wanted to help those less fortunate than herself and her family. She asked around, found out about WLAC and immediately got involved.
Elizabeth started by creating a project to raise funds to take a group of clients and their families to Legoland.
Many of us take such treats for granted. But most of our client families simply don’t have the resources or headspace to arrange this kind of trip. And many would face acute anxiety if they embarked on such an adventure on their own.
WLAC’s team of therapists work with our clients to understand and help them address the acute and complex challenges they face in their lives. This intensive process involves time, effort, patience and hard work. The therapists do not have the capacity to organise client outings, but they recognise the immense value and importance of helping vulnerable children to live life, build confidence, develop friendships and have fun. They identified a group of families who were ready and keen to join the trip. Elizabeth did the rest.
Elizabeth is an architect who has delivered a wide range of exciting local projects. Architects are known for their drive, creativity and logical approach. Elizabeth certainly deployed all these skills to great effect! She galvanised others into action. She asked Coca-Cola to donate soft drinks, persuaded a local pub to donate crisps and negotiated sandwiches from Pret-a-Manger. She hired a coach and with the help from her friends and her two children, accompanied a group of client families on the day-trip adventure. She even provided goody bags with signed photos of Blue Peter presenters and souvenirs for the children to take home with them.
The feedback was hugely positive. As well as being touched by the generosity of others, the children and their families enjoyed spending time at the park, meeting Elizabeth and her family, socialising with each other and creating positive memories. There was even enough money left over to fund the clients’ Christmas party!
This was just the beginning of a journey in which Elizabeth and her family have supported us in many different ways. Elizabeth has been very involved in our Annual Meetings for charity supporters and she and her husband Paul have generously hosted guests at our fundraising Secret Suppers events, helped to sell copies of our CookBook and been an incredible ambassador to recruit new supporters. Her daughter Jess has also worked for the charity and is a young patron.
In addition to fundraising and awareness raising, Elizabeth has served on our Board as a Trustee for many years and recently served as the Chair.
Without realising it at the time, Elizabeth stepped up into this role just a few months before the world entered the COVID-19 pandemic. Her calm, positive stewardship, compassion and commitment helped us to adapt and serve our clients through this exceptional crisis period. She describes WLAC as being ‘fleet of foot’ and so determined to put clients first that the team mobilised to deliver therapy remotely (by telephone or videolink) in very short order. There were some bold and creative solutions including enabling therapists to work from abroad and, when permitted, to deliver therapy sessions on walks in the park before we were able to return indoors. We (and our clients) are all very grateful to her.
Elizabeth describes it as a privilege to be involved in WLAC’s work and contribute to the positive changes the charity is making in our local community.
She says she finds it immensely rewarding. She has enormous respect for the team of therapists who help children and families with increasingly complex needs. Elizabeth describes WLAC as a very friendly, well run charity and she is clearly keen to continue to support its work in any way she can. This is lucky for us! Far from stepping down, she has kindly agreed to stay on as chair of our Management Sub Committee so we will continue to benefit from her warmth, passion and wisdom.
If you are interested in creating a fundraising project, volunteering at one of our events or supporting our work in other ways, please contact us.
We would love to hear from you. WLAC relies on the tenacity and creativity of its volunteers and they are a very friendly bunch.