This Christmas, I want to thank the whole Sense family

Written by Richard Kramer on

This Christmas, our chief executive, Richard, reflects on the past year and celebrates the whole Sense family.

I look back on 2021 with a sense of awe – at what the people we support, together with our staff and volunteers, have faced and overcome.

Only a few weeks ago, at the Sense Awards, we celebrated the amazing achievements of people with complex disabilities, and the people that support them and their families. It was an important reminder of just how incredible people can be.

In the most challenging circumstances, we have demonstrated what can be achieved when we all work together. We’ve continued to scale up our support, we’ve reimagined what services can look like. We’ve found new ways to connect differently.

All these different ways of connecting provided – and continue to provide – a lifeline for disabled people. From Sense Holidays, to our residential services, to our services for siblings of people with complex disabilities – we’ve been there.

We’ve campaigned for change, and seen over 35,000 people sign our petition demanding that disabled people must be a key part of the public inquiry into Covid-19.

Now, like everyone across the country, we are faced with another situation that was not unexpected and a rapidly changing environment.

The current crisis might seem to present endless challenges, but we haven’t lost sight of the core values that make Sense, Sense. We’ve especially kept our focus on putting people at the centre of our support.

Our collaborative approach means we can do everything we can to keep our staff and the people we work with as safe and well as possible.

As we end the year, I want to take a moment to thank everyone at Sense – the whole Sense family – for their hard work, commitment and dedication.

And I want to thank everyone who has supported us. Everything you’ve done has made a difference.

Whether you’ve signed our Covid-19 petition, or volunteered to be a Sense Virtual Buddy, thank you.

Whether you’ve donated to support what we do, or whether you’ve bought an item in our shops, you’ve helped make what we do possible. Thank you.

We are able to fulfil our responsibilities thanks to the skill, dedication and total professionalism of our staff who have stepped up in all sorts of different ways.

Together, we will continue to steer Sense through to calmer waters.

I wish you health, happiness and peace this Christmas and in the coming New Year.