Turning the Page - Reflecting on 2021

I got sent a meme that made me chuckle and then made my stomach churn, "2022 is pronounced 2020 two" it read. The new year is just days away and Covid-19 is still looming over us. It’s made me think, have we really taken advantage of the opportunities that the pandemic has laid out for us?

Long before our lives were shaped by letters of the Greek alphabet, when the pandemic first hit and we were just getting our heads around the idea of lockdowns and furlough, I had the perfect project to get stuck into. It had been on the back-burner for a long time and the pandemic was a great time to lock myself away and crack on. 2 years later, thanks to our phenomenal team, it’s an honour to see Small Change, Big Difference: The Penny Appeal Story, flying off shelves across the country.

Having just wrapped up the audiobook recording, the entire project has really captured the Penny Appeal journey thus far. They say part of where you’re going is knowing where you’re coming from and 2021 for me has been all about new beginnings, new ways of being and looking onto new horizons.

The book ends (don’t worry, no spoilers for those who haven’t yet read it!) with me looking forward to moving into Penny Appeal’s new International HQ in Thornes Park and what a move it’s been! I’ve always fought to keep Penny Appeal in our sleepy Yorkshire city of Wakefield. It’s meant we can build really deep inroads with communities here and that’s just what we’ve done. Our new building is nestled in one of the city’s biggest green spaces. We’ve teamed up with our local world-record smashing gym, we’re hosting the Bishop of Wakefield, a bridge club, a dance academy and even have local police dogs trained on site. Penny Appeal being at the centre of so much positive local community engagement is truly a dream come true.

After a somewhat rocky 2020, it’s safe to say Penny Appeal is well and truly back with a bang. Our sold-out comedy and pantomime tours have breathed new life into teams, our pioneering work with recently settled Afghani refugees made national news and our winter campaign promises to break new grounds in creativity and storytelling. Perhaps most importantly, our governance and leadership structures have evolved tremendously, future-proofing our organisation for decades to come.

Perhaps the greatest highlight of the year was my visit to Pakistan, my first since 2019 when I was unceremoniously suspended from my post at Penny Appeal (read the book for the gory details!) It felt like everything had come full circle. 2 years prior I landed from Pakistan to face the biggest test in my professional career. Now here I was flying out, accompanied by one the country’s finest Members of Parliament and the flyest designer I’ve ever known, inaugurating a masjid in honour of the mother of the very person who put me through that gruelling turmoil.?

But, just like a book, we turn the page, close the chapter, learn from the past and embrace the opportunities of now; as the famous saying goes, today is a gift, that’s why they call it the present!?

2021 has been full of ups and downs for us all and as we head into what is likely to be another lockdown post-Christmas, perhaps we’ll all be gifted one last opportunity to do all the things we hoped to do during the past year and craft a new normal that makes 2022 our best year yet.

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Adeem Younis

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