Kairos joins CRASH Charity to celebrate 30 years

It was a landmark occasion for CRASH Charity last Tuesday (12 May) as the charity’s Spring Reception marked 30 years of creating places that care for people when they need them most.

Kairos Director Mossie Lyons and support worker Giampiero Mozzi joined CRASH’s staff, patrons and partner charities to celebrate the relationships and projects that have shaped its work over the past three decades.

Speaking at the event, Mossie reflected on a long-standing relationship stretching back to CRASH’s formative years, after founder Tony Denison and his wife Ann were struck by what Tony later described as the “obscene” numbers of people sleeping rough.  Working originally from his garden shed and armed with his house phone, Tony organised two cold weather shelters within a matter of weeks.  CRASH Charity was born.

30 years later, CRASH has delivered more than £12 million of support to homelessness and hospice charities across the UK through grants, materials and expertise.  Kairos remains deeply grateful to be among the charities that have benefitted so greatly from this generosity and support over many years.

Describing Tuesday’s event as “a glorious retrospective on the 30 years in which CRASH has grown and travelled”, Mossie paid tribute to the small teams behind its success and the role CRASH has played in “funnelling all this goodness from the construction industry”.  He spoke of a shared sense of being “middle people”: people who are part of work that began before them and will continue after them, in which “nothing started with us and nothing will end with us”. 

That work, he said, includes the life-changing role recovery housing can play for people leaving rehab: homes that offer dignity, safety and hope, alongside camaraderie, understanding and non-judgemental support.  Places where people can reclaim their sense of self and worth and begin to feel human again.  He also shared an original poem written by support worker Giampiero, which left a deep impression on many of those present.

Thank you, CRASH Charity, and congratulations from all at Kairos on celebrating 30 years of incredible work.  We look forward to the next 30.