Boaz named as Weston Charity Awards winner

We are delighted this week to announce that we have been selected as a 2022 Weston Charity Awards winner.

The Boaz Trust was chosen from over 100 applicants, all of whom are frontline charities delivering youth, welfare or community services in the North of England, the Midlands and Wales.

The award gives us the chance to invest in our future with ten months of strategic planning support from a dedicated team of four business experts, thanks to pro bono charity Pilotlight, as well as a core grant of £6,500 from the Garfield Weston Foundation.

Our Chief Executive, Ros Holland, who collected the award along with trustee Mike Arundale, shared her joy at having been selected: “We are so thrilled to be recognised as one of 20 winners of the Weston Charity Awards 2022. After an incredibly challenging season, where our work and the people we work with have faced an increasingly hostile political environment, it is especially encouraging to see the Weston Charity Awards celebrate work that is welcoming refugees in the UK.

“Winning this award provides us with a fantastic opportunity to work with Pilotlight as we develop our new strategy to improve our sustainability and increase our impact as an organisation. This process will equip us to achieve our purpose, which is to end destitution among people seeking sanctuary. We are excited to see where this next step of our journey will take us.”

In congratulating the Boaz Trust, Philippa Charles, Director of the Garfield Weston Foundation, said: “The Weston Charity Awards were created in 2014 and have since helped 126 charities across Wales, the North and the Midlands to be effective and to grow their services for people in need. As the cost of living crisis hits families and communities, we see a critical role for small charities in key regions who are supporting vulnerable people in a range of ways. These awards are a tribute to their determination to improve lives in the toughest of circumstances.”

Ed Mayo, Chief Executive of Pilotlight, the charity which is connecting the Boaz Trust with a team of coaches drawn from a range of businesses and other organisations, said: “An old saying is that the poor pay more. So, while the rising cost of living is a crisis for many people, it is a potential catastrophe for those who are most vulnerable. The Boaz Trust has been selected as a Weston Charity Award recipient on the strength of its ambitions and the openness of the leadership team to external perspectives. Working with business experts, the Weston Charity Awards will strengthen them to support people who are most at need in our society.”