It may not have escaped the attention of some readers that my time has been taken elsewhere of late. After a lot of work behind the scenes it's time to reveal the project I have been involved in.
The trustees are delighted to announce the launch of a new charitable fund "The Dawn Skinner Fund"
The Dawn Skinner Fund is focused around the needs of transgender people who find themselves in an end of life care setting. Its inspiration came from a conversation my fellow trustee Rebecca & I had whilst we were visiting our friend Dawn last October as she lay dying of cancer in our local hospice. The care she received was on the whole outstanding, however there were a few occasions when staff didn't treat her with the dignity she deserved. In particular there was some casual (and from some staff members, persistent) misgendering.
Rebecca & I felt that there was a need for a charity to focus on the specific needs of transgender people in an end of life care setting. This started a further series of conversations which led to the creation of The Dawn Skinner Fund.
We are currently a membership organisation with charitable aim because the complexities of setting up a full blown charity on no budget are challenging. As a small organisation we will first seek charitable status from the Inland Revenue, followed by full registered charity status when our turnover passes the threshold set by the Charities Commission.
We are also pleased to announce the national launch of The Dawn Skinner Fund at Sparkle 2013. We will have a stall in the park during the celebrations and we would love to see you and to chat with you about The Dawn Skinner Fund. We are also hoping that some of you will also join us as members.
We need your help to be able to achieve some our aims, such as being able to prepare materials that we would need to facilitate professional learning for healthcare staff who may encounter transgender people during the course of their work. The Dawn Skinner Fund is not expecting to provide standard "diversity training" but to work with these specialised professionals to help them consider the needs of transgender people with a life limiting condition.
We think this work is extremely important, after all one of life's few certainties for all of us is its end.
We look forward to meeting some of you in the park.
More information about The Dawn Skinner Fund can be found at http://www.dawnskinnerfund.org.uk, or via Twitter: @DawnFund.
I won't be at Sparkle but I do wish you well. The fact is that many of us transition late in life, when thoughts naturally turn to what will happen as we approach death.
ReplyDeleteI shall be following your updates with interest.
I am very suprised that there has only been the 1 comment so far. You and Rebecca deserve our warmest congratulations. I'm sorry I wont be at Sparkle to help you launch the fund. Will give you some dosh when next see you at STGG or Theale.
ReplyDeleteThat's a fine and heart-warming endeavour - congratulations for taking this initiative. I've already begun spreading the word.
ReplyDeleteThanks all. Progress has been slow but steady, having got our launch out of the way and made a start on the administrative trail to charitable status we're now starting to talk to end-of-life professionals to create our offering.
ReplyDelete