30 tcf.org.uk News from around our Charity Tony Bruno I am passionate about supporting bereaved families, having experienced the death of my son 7 years ago. I attended Gloucestershire TCF meetings and found great comfort and hope through those meetings and, engaging with (mainly) parents who had suffered similar experiences. I have stayed close to TCF and at one point did enquire about the possibility of establishing a TCF group in Hong Kong, where I lived at the time. I founded a charitable organisation in Hong Kong dedicated to youth mental health and suicide prevention, and have had over five years’ experience as a board director of a separate charity that supports young people with mental health challenges. I have held roles as treasurer, member of remuneration committee, and head of fundraising. I founded an annual event that has engaged thousands of people directly and through social media, and generated £700,000 in non-restricted funding. I have developed a deep understanding of the importance of compassionate, community-based support for bereaved families and have acted informally to help people who have had similar experiences to my own. I found great comfort and help from TCF during my journey, and wish to contribute my skills and experience back to TCF. In particular I am keen to leverage my skills to help strengthen TCFs fundraising, digital communication and governance. I have experience developing and implementing growth strategies in businesses and charities and I am particularly interested in helping TCF develop growth plans. Outside of my charitable work, I have had a long, successful career as an executive in business services outsourcing, recently acting as executive vice-president for a worldwide business providing services to tech and online. Meet our new trustees We are delighted to welcome Tony, Karen and Jackie to the TCF Board of Trustees. Each bring their own talents, skills and expertise to the Board and also appreciate the importance of peer support in offering a lifeline to bereaved parents, siblings and grandparents. Karen Chandler I’m Karen and - unbelievably really - my son Gianni died ten and a half years ago, aged 23. Obviously, like you all, my life has been shattered into a thousand pieces; but these days I find joy, laughter and fulfilment as well as brokenness and pain. Extraordinary, really. I never would have believed it possible. One of the unexpected aspects of my bereavement is that I have trained as a civil funeral celebrant- and enjoy (yes, that’s the right word) working with the bereaved and walking alongside them. As well as this, I ran a small charity for 13 years and am currently a Director of a CIC - so I am steeped in the Third Sector. The Compassionate Friends were a lifeline to me in the earlier days- and I would love to “repay” their compassion, humanity and understanding. TCF NEWS | NEWS FROM AROUND OUR CHARITY
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy OTM0NTEz