SSAFA celebrates International Women's Day!

08 March 2023

SSAFA was established to look after military personnel and their families way back in 1885. Since then, women have taken central roles in the organisation, from fundraising to case working, Trustee to beneficiary, SSAFA salutes women throughout the last century and into the next.

Every woman who works or volunteers for SSAFA is honoured and valued; here we celebrate just a handful who well represent the wider community:

(Clockwise from top left: Kirsty Bushell, SSAFA National Vice-Chairman; Mandy Small, Beneficiary & Regional Fundraising Officer; Sally Orange, Fundraiser; Jacqui Griggs, Beneficiary; Jessica Sanders, Corporate Partnerships Officer; Cheril Bascombe, Norton House Manager; and Elsie Cobb, Digital Marketing Volunteer)

 

Jacqui Griggs - SSAFA beneficiary

As undiagnosed depression led to alcohol abuse, Jacqui Griggs decided to leave her career in the RAF. Unfortunately, she continued to face difficulties in civvy street, falling into a dysfunctional relationship and encouraged to take out huge payday loans she couldn’t afford to pay back.

When she became pregnant, she decided she needed to take charge of her future. As a single mother to one-year-old Faith, and crippled with debt, she turned to SSAFA to help get back on her feet.

Jacqui says the charity, especially case worker Kathy Munslow, have given her hope, and given Faith her mummy back. Now she is back on track and in a much better place.

Sally Orange – SSAFA Supporter & Fundraiser

Sally is a former British Army Major who served for 22 years in the Royal Army Medical Corps. Since leaving the armed forces, she has become an adventurer and endurance racer, raising money for SSAFA, often in fancy dress.

Having faced her own challenges with severe depression and chronic anxiety Sally strives to raise awareness and help remove the associated stigma. Sally is running the London Marathon for SSAFA in April, dressed as a cream cracker!

Sally says: “I’m crackers about mental health. I want everyone to know that there is help out there and they can get through the hard times.”

Mandy Small – SSAFA Beneficiary & Regional Fundraising Officer for SSAFA

Mandy and her son, James, were bereaved when James was only eight years old, after his father, who was in the Army, took his own life. Mandy, who was an RAF Police Dog Handler for 14 years, was helped by SSAFA in the aftermath of the tragedy. She has since become a volunteer fundraiser for SSAFA and, just recently, joined SSAFA as a member of staff.

Mandy said: “I am so proud to work for SSAFA. All I want to do, my whole reason for being in this job, is to help people like myself, who needed someone in their darkest hour, and SSAFA reached out a hand.”

Elsie Cobb – Student and SSAFA Digital Marketing Volunteer for Buckingham

Elsie started volunteering with SSAFA on her 18th birthday. As such, she was SSAFA’s youngest volunteer. She had no military background but found that SSAFA offered all the training she needed and carried on volunteering for her local branch, despite going off to London to University.

Elsie says: “I was searching for a volunteering opportunity and looked at a few options, but after my interview with SSAFA I knew I wanted to work with them. They were so welcoming and friendly that I knew I would enjoy it.”

Cheril Bascombe – Housing Manager, Norton House

When a military family gets the call to say their serving loved one is seriously injured or ill, the last thing they should worry about is where they will stay to be close to them during treatment and rehabilitation, or how they will pay for it. SSAFA provides free home-from-home accommodation at Norton House, near the Defence Medical Rehabilitation Centre (DMRC), which is run by Cheril. She has worked tirelessly to make families feel at home in Norton house for many years. Cheril also volunteers for her local SSAFA branch as a caseworker.

Jessica Sanders – Military Wife and SSAFA Corporate Partnerships Officer

Jessica, an Army spouse, recently started working for SSAFA as a Corporate Partnership Officer. Balancing a career with constantly moving home due to your partner’s job can be challenging, but Jess is confidently negotiating this perennially complicated path.

Jess said: “I wanted to work for SSAFA because I knew they would understand the military lifestyle. They have truly been committed to ensure I can do my job, with the understanding of my family's needs and my husband’s complicated work patterns. It is a genuinely amazing place to work as a military wife and mother.”

Kirsty Bushell CBE – SSAFA National Vice-Chairman and Director at Turner & Townsend

Kirsty said: “From my childhood spent in unformed youth organisations, 24 years in the RAF, and supporting SSAFA for more than 30 years, it is a huge privilege to have helped shape our continuing relevance, compassion, and practical support.”

An outstandingly inspirational figurehead for the organisation, Kirsty has motivated women in every organisation she has worked for, to become their best, strongest and most impactful selves.
SSAFA pays tribute to all women, through the ages, on International Women’s Day.