Charity chief retires after stepping up temporarily

A WOMAN has been recognised by her colleagues after retiring from a charity role.

Patricia Vella, of Beverley Gardens, Wargrave, stepped down as chief executive of Christian Community Action last year.

The Reading charity helps people in need of emergency goods through its shops and support centres.

Ms Vella joined the charity during the covid-19 pandemic and acted as chair of trustees before becoming chief executive in March last year following a sudden departure.

Rachel Belshaw, acting chair of trustees, said: “Patricia worked tirelessly for CCA as we navigated and emerged from the challenges of the pandemic.

“We are grateful for the time and effort she invested and the contribution she has made over the past three years, both as a trustee and as interim chief executive.

“We wanted to recognise Patricia’s contribution as she has given a lot of her own time.

“When we lost our chief executive, she stepped in voluntarily and really helped bring about some changes.” Ms Vella said it was the right time to step down. She said: “I’d done a lot and it was a lot of work. It’s always hard moving on from working closely with a lot of dedicated people but I think I sort of ticked off what I wanted to get done.”

Ms Vella said that she had wanted to get involved with the charity in order to help people. She said: “My background is in disaster consultancy for corporations and there was an affinity between helping people recover and helping companies recover.”

Meanwhile, a new manager has taken over of the CCA shop in Wood Lane, Sonning Common Former shop assistant Karen Trevillion had been running the shop since June and Ms Belshaw said she was popular with shoppers.

She said: “People seem to warm to her and like her personable and enthusiastic attitude. She works really hard to serve the local community.

“It’s fairly complicated as people bring in a lot of donated goods that all have to be sorted out. Some people want to gift aid them so they have to all be labelled correctly.

“There is a good team of volunteers and they are appreciated in the local community.

“Sonning Common is often thought of as a very affluent area but there is definitely a need for it.”

Ms Vella said: “Karen and her team of staff and volunteers have put in an enormous amount of work behind the scenes to make the shop a nicer environment for shoppers.

“She listened to customers and we reviewed the till data to understand what Sonning Common shoppers want and we’re re-balancing stock where we can to cater for them.”