As a native of Strabane, I have always been interested in the progress of the town, how the people get along and how the community and services interact. It’s a complicated and challenging world we live in and Strabane has had its share, some might say more than its share, of the troubles, stresses and strains that are the unwanted by-product of its social, economic, geographical and political history.
These troubles inevitably leave further stresses in their wake. Initially invisible perhaps, they silently multiply and in time have a devastating affect on the wellbeing of individuals and by extension the overall community.
We all need help in dealing with what life circumstances throw at us, some more than others. To have an organisation dedicated to helping the more vulnerable of us through the physical, mental and spiritual traumas that are an everyday factor in so many lives is a great start in the process of healing and enabling us to live a normal and productive life.
When I heard, a year ago, of the existence of the Koram Centre and learned more about how it operates and what it achieves, I immediately felt that this was something I wanted to support. I subsequently met several of the talented and dedicated individuals who give so much of themselves to the service and further spent time with some of those members of the community who have greatly benefited from their involvement with the centre.
I was then asked would I consider becoming a patron of the organization. My first reaction was to think ‘what on earth can I bring to the centre, totally untrained as I am in any of this important and difficult work’. But in time I came to realize that public relations are an essential part of the ongoing success of any public enterprise…. and that if all I could do was to throw a little more light or focus some more attention on the great work of Koram through any public profile I’ve been fortunate to arrive at, then it would be something worth doing. I agreed to the request and am now happy to be a part of the public face of this important service.
