At ADHD Embrace we also have much to celebrate as it is now 5 year since becoming a registered charity in March 2020. The last five years have been an amazing journey as we set ambitious plans to get funding allowing us to hire a team to run our activities. Over this time we have seen our database of families and professionals grow from just over 500 to around 4,500 today.
Broadening our reach and impact has been very rewarding. This has been achieved through the dedication and hard work of our team and volunteers (past and present) and also through the support of our funders that backed the vision we set as well as our community that have supported us in many ways.
I would like to take this opportunity to thank Jenny Cooper, who is stepping down as our Executive Director for her significant contribution to ADHD Embrace. Jenny has been with us for three years now, coming in as our first Executive Director, and brought an amazing amount of energy and passion to the role. Jenny joined us having been part of our community for many years and also was one of our volunteers that lead the Saturday Marble Hill gatherings. We wish Jenny all the best.
I am delighted to announce that Wayne Botha has been appointed to take on the role of Executive Director and is joining us at the beginning of March. Wayne has lived experience of ADHD and also comes with a wealth of experience having worked in the charitable sector for many years. He has experience across a broad spectrum of roles covering service provision, fundraising, governance and various leadership positions. Wayne is looking forward to getting to meet our community and we are excited to welcome Wayne who is tasked with taking the charity onto its next stage of our growth journey.
I would also like to take this opportunity to thank Sonja Whitticase for her contribution to ADHD Embrace, where as our Marketing Manager, she led our rebranding a few years ago and also developed our challenge events fundraising channel. We are pleased to have recruited Harit Gillar to support our marketing activities including our challenge events – Harit also has lived experience of ADHD.
We also have appointed Dr Bozhena Zoritch as an ADHD Embrace Ambassador following her retirement from the Board of Trustees. Bozhena has been part of our community of psychiatrists for many years and has been working closely with families of young people with ADHD. We are delighted that Bozhena will be advocating for ADHD and for the work we do.
Please join me in thanking Jenny and Sonja and welcoming Wayne and Harit. Next year we will be celebrating our 25th anniversary as an organisation and so we hope you will join us in the various celebrations. We will be setting up a committee to plan and coordinate our celebrations and If anybody is interested in working on our 25th anniversary planning and events, please let us know at [email protected]. We would love to hear from you.