Co-ordinator, The Junction, Edinburgh: The Junction offers access to a wide range of health-related services, education and information for young people in Northeast Edinburgh enhancing their health and wellbeing. They work with some of the most disadvantaged and hard-to-reach groups encouraging social and economic inclusion. The Junction recently won a GlaxoSmithKline Impact Award for their work and have been nominated HSBC Edinburgh Charity of the Year. Sam Anderson is Co-ordinator at The Junction, and she shares below some of her perspective on the charity sector and her experience in working with Pilotlight Scotland.
PL: Have you always been interested in the charity sector?
SA: "I’ve worked within the voluntary sector since graduating in 1992. It is something I’m passionate about and I would be hard pushed to imagine working within another sector."
PL: What is the first charity you can remember supporting?
SA: "I'm not sure if it was the first but I’ve been a member of Amnesty International since my teens and still consider them a vital organisation."
PL: What motivated you to get involved with Pilotlight?
SA: "Last May, we were three years into running a new, well-used charity and were uncertain where or what we should be doing next. Through word-of-mouth, we heard of Pilotlight and their excellent work around strategic business planning with another charity. On investigating more about Pilotlight, it was clearly an amazing opportunity for us to gain access to senior business professionals and their strategic skills."
PL: Do you think working for/with a charity has altered your perspective in your own life?
SA: "I’m not sure. I think I work for a charity because of my perspective on life. I do know that working for a charity is a good way to keep you grounded and remind you what is important in life."
PL: Which cause do you feel most passionately about?
SA: "What a difficult question. I’m committed to working to ensuring a more equal world. I’m particularly passionate about work with young people because I believe this is where we can make a proactive difference for the future as opposed to mopping up the damage of the past."
PL: If you could have any dream job, what would it be?
SA: "The one I’ve got is pretty close though longer funding cycles and enough resources to sustain and develop what we do would be even closer!!"
Click here to visit The Junction's website.