Welcome to ‘5 minutes with…’, our series of interviews to introduce you to the many different people involved with Rainbow Living.
Our latest 5 minutes with interview is with Abbie Furnival, who joined as a Director earlier this year.
Please tell us a bit about yourself: I live in Honiton with my husband, two young daughters and dog and I work in the NHS as a Clinical Support & Cancer Service Group Director. I worship at Belmont Exeter.
How did you hear about or know about Rainbow Living? I grew up going to Belmont Exeter and was in Sunday school with a few of the current tenants of Rainbow Living. After some time living away I reconnected with Belmont about 2 years ago and I've so enjoyed becoming reacquainted with some familiar faces.
What attracted you to the role of Director at Rainbow Living? I think this is such an important charity. The statistics around health and wellbeing for people with a learning disability are still sadly lacking compared to those who don't have an LD and we know that environment and where someone lives makes a real difference. I'm the same age as a few of the longest standing tenants and so reconnecting with their parents leaves me in awe at the level of independence that has been achieved for my old Sunday School friends who are now adults living with a Learning Disability. I know a lot of hard work has gone into setting up this charity, growing this charity and the hard work continues today. To be able to be a small part of helping someone to live independently and well is a real privilege and this sort of work needs support from people who are passionate about helping the vulnerable.
What do you like most about Rainbow Living and the work the charity does? I think the quality of the housing is great and the response that tenants get when something isn't working is really fantastic. Given this is entirely through volunteer time in coordinating the response it's a real testament to the commitment of a few people who care deeply about getting it right for our tenants.
What would you most like to achieve in your capacity as a Director at Rainbow Living? I'd really like to support the charity in further understanding its identity when not in a "growth" period as we pause before any further expansions. Consolidating all of the fantastic achievements and defining what can continue through volunteer time and where we need to invest in charity infrastructure will be important.
If there was one thing you would change about Rainbow Living it would be… I'm not sure I know this yet!
What do you think the future holds for Rainbow Living? I think the future is bright for Rainbow Living but we are undoubtedly in a new era as there are no current fundraising efforts or firm plans for a sixth property. That means providing the best experience we can for our tenants with LD will continue to be key and in doing so how we work with care providers and other third party organisations will be important.
What do you feel are the key challenges and/or best opportunities facing the charity sector generally? In Devon we do have a more elderly population which is often cited as a potential drain on resource but I'd like to think that there are some opportunities here to attract people who are retired and still want to be a part of a community and to have a "working life". If we can match up people with time & talents to the fulfilling volunteer opportunities in Rainbow Living then I see that as winning all round.
Val Symons joined as a Director in 2021. Read on to find out more about Val.
Please tell us a bit about yourself. I am married with two adult children, and have always lived in Devon. I have worked in administration jobs - mainly banking, book keeping, and accounts - but now just work on a voluntary basis.
How did you hear about Rainbow Living? As a family, we joined Belmont Chapel about 20 years ago, and I am in a house group with one of the other Directors, so have been aware of Rainbow Living for a long time.
What attracted you to the role of Director at Rainbow Living? I was approached and now that I am no longer in paid work, was looking for something that was fulfilling but flexible around other voluntary work.
What do you like most about Rainbow Living and the work the charity does? The provision of stable homes for the tenants.
What would you most like to achieve in your capacity as a Director at Rainbow Living? To facilitate the ongoing work of the existing Directors.
Dave Hopton recently joined the charity as a Director; read on to find out more about Dave, his thoughts for the future, and how he hopes to support Rainbow Living as we grow!
Please tell us a bit about yourself
I hail from Birmingham and moved to Exeter in 2009 to study Politics, which included spending some time in the US. After graduating in 2013 I moved to London briefly to work in finance but moved back to Exeter to work in financial technology as a Product Manager at Crowdcube, an equity crowdfunding platform.
How did you hear about or know about Rainbow Living?
I’m a member of Belmont Chapel so have known of Rainbow Living for a while, but within the last 6 months I really started to get to know the team and learn more about Rainbow’s plans for the future.
What attracted you to the role of Director at Rainbow Living?
There are multiple things! What Rainbow Living enables is life changing for the tenants and families involved, so being able to support that work is a real privilege. Because of the impact Rainbow has, and the consequent plans to grow so we can help more people, the charity is at a really interesting stage of development and there is lots of work to be done to prepare for that growth and execute it well. The chance to get involved and offer my services was a very exciting prospect and I’m glad to be on board.
What do you like most about Rainbow Living and the work the charity does?
I love that Rainbow Living enables adults to live independent lives with the security of stable, high quality housing. It’s easy to assume that would be possible for everyone but sadly that’s not the case, and it’s therefore unsurprising that demand for more Rainbow houses increases each month. What that independence enables for tenants and their families is fantastic; calling it life changing is not an overstatement!
What would you most like to achieve in your capacity as a Director at Rainbow Living?
The next chapter of Rainbow Living brings some interesting challenges and opportunities. Growing our network of supporters, carefully acquiring and developing new properties, and continuing to thoughtfully build and refine how Rainbow itself operates are all things I would love to help develop.
If there was one thing you would change about Rainbow Living it would be…
Lots of change that comes with this stage of growth is already underway so I don’t think there’s any one thing I would point to. Ask me in a year!
What do you think the future holds for Rainbow Living?
I think the future looks incredibly bright (though not orange)! Over the last 10 years the team has done an amazing job laying fantastic foundations, and that now enables us to look forward at an exciting range of opportunities from a position of strength. With a prudent approach, I hope and believe that we’ll be able to offer increased residential accommodation for adults with learning disabilities that meets a real local need. I also hope that we are able to share our expertise to help constructively influence policy and guide other organisations to have a positive impact in this space.
What do you feel are the key challenges and/or best opportunities facing the charity sector generally?
The growth and importance of technology offers both challenges and opportunities for all charities, including Rainbow Living. Done well, I think it can really help organisations operate effectively – especially where that are particular constraints on resources and every penny counts. However, technology moves so quickly that keeping up and determining what tech to use is not easy to do. I’m interested to see how we at Rainbow Living can use technology to help us further our mission.