Community Foundation funds GO general manager's salary

The charity is a social enterprise that focuses on providing training and support to disadvantaged people in Guernsey.

Chris Murphy moved to Guernsey 28 years ago and when a colleague introduced him to Giving Opportunities, he quickly joined the charity in April 2021, following a 14-year career in the prison service.

‘It’s the perfect role for me,’ he said.

‘It takes a lot of patience and understanding but seeing our members develop their skill set is so rewarding.

‘We’re a people-first charity, everyone comes because they want to give something.’

GO was founded more than 10 years ago, and helps disadvantaged islanders, including those with learning disabilities and mental health issues, and ex-offenders.

Now fully relocated to its premises at Quayside thanks to the help of Norman Piette, the charity uses its huge space to enable service users to gain vital employability skills through jobs such as running the charity shop and restoring donated items.

As general manager, Mr Murphy is responsible for the general upkeep and running, manages all operational elements as well as the welfare of the team and the charity’s engagement with third party support groups.

‘The foundation recognised that GO’s general manager was fundamental to the charity’s success.

‘We were impressed with the strides that the charity has made in recent years,’ said GCF chief executive Jim Roberts.

Having joined the charity in the midst of the second round of Covid, Mr Murphy had to adapt immediately and created a new business model, management structure, health and safety policies as well as putting together a staff handbook and offering emotional support to crew members.

‘It was a really tough adjustment period, I’d just walked through the door and it was chaos.

‘I had to do everything through zoom calls,’ he said.

Now back to normality, the Mr Murphy is working on the charity’s strategic plan to provide more training, extend its reach from young people to anyone in the community and work with more retailers to create more employment opportunities.

‘The continued support from the Guernsey Community Foundation will allow GO to continue to recover from the reduction in retail income caused by Covid. It will help us offer stability, as well as allow revenues to be reinstated in bespoke training plans and our crew members,’ said GO’s chairman Paul Meader.

n Anyone looking to give the charity a helping hand can find more information at – gocharity.gg/get-involved.