WAY welcomes two new Trustees

July 2024

WAY Widowed and Young is pleased to welcome two new members to the charity’s Board of Trustees – WAY members Nadir Keshani and Gary McFarlane, who are both young widowed dads.

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Nadir joined WAY after his wife died in April 2020 and found comfort in knowing there were other people who understood what he and his young son were going through.

He said: “As a WAY Trustee, I want to do my best to support others going through young widowhood. Everyone’s experience is different but knowing that we’re not alone is extremely powerful.”

Read Nadir's story

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Gary joined WAY after his wife died of breast cancer in 2017 and found the friendship, support and understanding to be a fantastic lifeline for himself and his daughter.

“Finding WAY totally changed my outlook on things,” he said. “I went from feeling like I was odd/wrong/weird for the way I felt, to finding others who felt the same way as me. Through WAY, I found things that helped with keeping going. I attended my first WAY meet up event eight weeks after I was widowed – being able to feel like enjoying things again made a huge impact. From there I didn’t look back and I went on to start organising my own events eventually as a volunteer for WAY.”

“When the chance came round to become a Trustee, I was interested right away,” Gary added. “I wanted to be part of giving back to the charity that has done a lot for me as well as hopefully providing help to others.”

Read Gary's story Watch an interview with Gary

What do WAY’s Trustees do?

WAY now has 11 Trustees – nine members of the charity and two non members – who help make key decisions about finances and help to steer the future direction of the charity. 

WAY's Trustees formally meet six times a year – both online and in person. Between the meetings Trustees support the activities for the charity, for example, by taking part in our diversity working groups.

WAY’s Trustees are all volunteers, fitting their responsibilities around other commitments. 

WAY’s Chief Executive Stephanie Patrick said: “We are very grateful to WAY members like Gary and Nadir who volunteer their time and expertise so generously to give back to the charity that has helped them in their bereavement – and who are helping to make sure WAY is being run effectively and robustly to help support young widowed men and women across the UK today, tomorrow and into the future.”

If you’ve lost your partner before your 51st birthday and live in the UK – whether you were married or not, with or without children, whatever your sexual orientation, race or religion – you are welcome to join us.

Joining up to WAY takes minutes and costs just £30 a year, which can be paid either by direct debit or PayPal.