Towards the end of 2022 I suggested to the Trustees that I felt the best way ahead for the charity was not to appoint a new Assistant Director but for me to step to one side and a new full time Director to be employed. When they had got over their surprise they gratefully accepted my suggestion.
Obviously for me it was one of the most difficult decisions I have ever made. My involvement with FAITH goes back to the early 90’s when I began as a volunteer. Working with the homeless and underprivileged gets into your DNA and becomes a part of you. Even as I write it feels unreal that what became “my baby” back in 2005 is now in somebody else’s arms. The everyday simple decisions which I used to make, I can no longer. It is very odd.
I will forever be grateful to the Trustees for entrusting me with FAITH and of course to the Lord for providing for the ministry over all these years. When I started ReadiFood was not even a thing. Indeed the term Food Bank did not exist. We did a couple of parcels each week for people that we came across in need, but nothing pointed to what was to come. We may have got close to running out of food on occasions but we never have.
For a few years we ran a small housing project and helped a number of men who were in recovery from addiction and needed additional help and support. More recently “A Bed for the Night” kept numerous men and women from sleeping in the cold and on a a couple of occasions saved lives.
It has been a joy to know that we have been able to make many people’s lives just a little better than they may have otherwise been and especially for a few individuals who have met Christ partly through our ministry.
I am also grateful that for the time being I will be continuing to work for FCG as “Communications Officer”, enabling me to do more of this, i.e. media stuff.
“Walking way” from FCG in due course will be incredibly difficult. What does one do after being part of such an incredible organisation? And of course it was never “my baby”. It was always and should always be His.
I’m sure that, just like you, God has a plan for the rest of my life.
Malcolm