Church 4 Life

 

How Church 4 Life Charities helped move Gail from Chronic Illness to Managing Director.

 

“2013 was a very, very bad year for me and by December my body had decided enough was enough. I became very ill with Adjustment Disorder (which is a fancy word for Burn Out). I went from a very full and active life to struggling to move and to do simple every day activities. Some days I could barely get out of bed.

Church 4 Life Clothing Collectors was in still in it’s early stages. After I had been in recovery for a while, Pastor Richard asked me to help out in an emergency by just being at the warehouse and waiting to accept a delivery. I could do that. Helping out in that small made me feel better.

Over time, I helped out an hour here and an hour there. They were flexible and I could come in any time that was good for me and I could leave whenever it got too much. It felt good to be doing something productive with my days and having a small chat with other volunteers.

The more I worked as a volunteer the better my health got and the better my health got, the more I could work.

For a season I would go into the warehouse for a couple of hours in the morning to help out, and then go home for a few hours sleep and then I was back to work for an hour or two in the late afternoon. Having somewhere to go every day, being productive and making a difference, connecting with staff and donors, all these things were a vital part of my healing journey.

Our donors had no way of knowing that every blue bag they filled was changing MY life.

Church 4 Life was delighted to have my wealth of business education and experience to help out in the early days of our Clothing Collectors charity.

Finally I was well enough to get back into paid work. So the church Board offered me a job and I’ve never looked back. I have never worked harder mentally, physically, emotionally or spiritually but I love my job!

One of my favourite parts of my job is seeing local lives changed, just like mine was, through the generosity of our donors and the support of our community.”

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Church 4 Life

Gail Taylor

Managing Director

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