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The financial support has alleviated so many problems for us. I can’t express how much it helped - it’s enabled us to live a life. Alan Monelle
The financial support has alleviated so many problems for us. I can’t express how much it helped - it’s enabled us to live a life.
On this year's Day of People With Disabilities, we're hearing from Richard Farrar - an electronic engineer who had a life-changing accident.
I originally joined Foothold in 2019 as the Office Manager & PA to the CEO, but the role quickly broadened in scope and it wasn’t long before I took on the mantle of Head of Business & Volunteering.
It’s a varied and dynamic role which sees me take responsibility the operational and internal functions of the charity. This includes overseeing all administrative activities, ensuring our team have everything they need to best support our community, and managing Foothold’s finances alongside our Senior Finance Officer. I’m also heavily involved in recruiting new members of staff, as well as taking a leading role in supporting our global volunteers to make a difference to engineers and their families.
Away from my desk, my hobbies are as varied as my job – whether it’s taking part in body pump weight classes and martial arts sessions, travelling around the world, or tapping into my artistic side by baking and decorating cakes.
I head up our Support Services Team, looking at how we can utilise our resources and funding to provide the best possible support for people who need our help. I came to Foothold from a completely different sector – supporting victims of crime (more recently, with a focus on victims of stalking) – so it’s been eye-opening for me to get to know the Foothold community, the challenges they face, and how we can help them overcome these challenges and thrive.
We strive to offer a friendly, inclusive and effective response to every call for support, no matter where our community members are in the world. It’s a privilege to work with our team our caseworkers, who are so passionate and dedicated to doing all they can to support community members in need.
Outside of work, you’ll currently likely find me visiting a zoo or a farm with my toddler and fiancé. I’ve never seen so many animals in such a short space of time!
I joined Foothold as CEO in January 2019 and have overall responsibility for the day-to-day running of the charity, bringing together the work of our three teams to ensure we’re delivering on our mission to ensure that no engineer or their family needs to face life’s challenges alone.
Working alongside the Board of Trustees, my focus is on delivering our strategy and utilising the resources we have available to achieve the best possible outcomes for engineers and their families.
Ensuring that we’re continuing to develop our understanding of the needs of our community, as well as effectively measuring our impact, are vital parts of my role which enable us to prioritise our support for those who need us most, whilst ensuring that we are working within our charity’s legal frameworks.
Following almost a decade in fundraising working with some highly impactful charities, I joined Foothold in August 2024 to lead the organisation’s engagement with the global engineering community.
As someone who has family members working in the engineering sector, I understand the impact that dedicated benevolent funds like Foothold can make for people, no matter the work they do or the industry their work in. So it’s a real privilege to play my part in driving Foothold’s mission to ensure no engineer or their family has to face life’s challenges alone.
To help deliver on this, I oversee a team of passionate fundraising and communications professionals, who are experts at what they do. Every day, we work hard to connect with the engineering community and raise awareness of our life-changing support – whether it’s organising a fundraising appeal, or putting on a webinar to help people improve their mental health.
Although my specialism is in income generation, my background is more rooted in sport, and I still enjoy playing tennis regularly. I also love cooking, and growing my own food. None of this keeps me as busy as my young family though, as you can probably imagine!