Bridge2 founder to close charity and leave island
AFTER 16 years, the founder of local humanitarian aid charity Bridge2 has decided to close the charity due to difficulty fundraising during the pandemic.
Sarah Griffith said that new regulations and the impact of Covid-19 was behind her decision to bring the charity to a close and move away from Guernsey to spend time with family.
‘It’s been my life and my heartbeat but red tape has made sending money overseas become incredibly difficult. With Covid its made fundraising harder and I have to think that I’m going to be 63 in January.’
Throughout the years, the charity has supported the aftermath of the tsunami in Sri Lanka in 2004, and helped relief efforts in various countries across the world, including Haiti, Nepal and the Philippines.
More recently, projects have been undertaken to support refugees in Calais and Greece.
‘It wasn’t an easy decision but I’m quite pragmatic and I am a realist. There’s a time and a place for everything and it is much better to get out when you’re aware of the failings rather than go ahead blindly,’ said Ms Griffith.
The charity’s accounts will be officially closed in December.
Travel restrictions throughout the pandemic have meant that paying in-person visits to countries in need became a challenge.
‘My mantra has been to be hands on and boots on the ground myself, but that hasn’t happened recently and I have had itchy feet.’
She plans to move to Shropshire in the near future, where her two sons and many of her friends currently live.
‘For me it is an adventure. Guernsey has been phenomenal from a fundraising perspective – it’s been off the scale. We could have never done it in the UK. Here there is a smaller community. We used to take a photo of someone we had helped and send it to the donor with the name of the person – it made it more tangible and it would go on someone’s mantle piece.’
Poland is potentially on the cards for her next charitable venture, but Ms Griffith said she was looking forward to settling down near friends and family for now and supporting refugees in the UK.
‘I’m pretty sure there will be something that comes up,’ she said.
