Volunteer Awards

Volunteers recognised

Volunteers across Newcastle have received much deserved recognition at an annual awards ceremony.

Support Staffordshire hosted its 2021 Newcastle-under-Lyme VolunteerStar Awards virtually on Tuesday, June 8. The awards aim to: “recognise and celebrate the outstanding achievements and commitment of volunteers and organisations who go theextra mile to support our communities.”

To watch the virtual award ceremony, go online to: www.youtube.com/channel/UCALwWQP47FS0Z JuAa2YuPNQ. Winner: Carly Leese -Staffordshire Fire and RescueService In her nomination for Carly, Helen Wood said: “Carly volunteers for SFRS and Safe+Sound in Newcastle (and other areas). After some tough personal challenges, Carly started taking acounselling course to teach her to providecounselling for others, she will qualify in 2021. She started volunteering for SFRS in July 2019 when she supported Safe+Sound in Newcastle.She has grown in strength and confidence and is now ahighly valued member of our volunteering team, providing her services as host at Safe+Sound events. Carly’s help is invaluable and she helps the children attending Safe+Sound really get the most out of their visit –she meets and greets the children and teachers on arrival, and helps them as they move around the Fire Station between workshops. As her confidence has grown she has really started to take ownership of the hosting role and is now comfortable to be left to monitor time and keep workshop partners on track with delivery. Teachers attending events have commented on the smooth operation and organisation of events which is due, in no small part, to Carly. Carly deserves to winasshe has overcome hugepersonalchallenges and volunteering is really helping herregain skills and confidence. She is amotivated, enthusiastic and willing volunteerwho is apleasure to work with.

Personal Achievement Award

Commendation in the Personal Achievement Ward category went to: June Handy at Caudwell Children; and Mike Clayton at Sting.

New Volunteer Team of the Year

Winner: Windmills Charity (Leeanne Clay & ZaraToussaint)

In David Hughe’s nomination for the Windmills Charity, he said: “Created in 2019 this fledgling charity was thebrainchild of twoorgan donation specialist nurses. Whilst conducting their normal duties theyperceived amonumentallack of support for children and young people when someone significant in their lives receives terminal diagnosis/prognosis. The aim of Windmills, which is now aregistered charity and is run on anonprofit voluntary basis by Leeanne and Zara, whilst holding down full time jobs, is to solely preserve and protect the physical, emotional and mental health of childrenand young people in Staffordshire. When someone significant in these young peoples lives is dying, or has died they provide bespoke, focused and supportive acute bereavement care. Their service is free of charge and absolutely anyone can refer to them, whether they be afamily member, teacher, healthcare professional, friend….the list goeson. Windmills is now receiving referrals from all sectors of the community thus proving it is amuchneeded service in Staffordshire, and Ifeel thatboth Leeanne, Zara and Windmills deserve some recognition.

Commendationinthe New Volunteer Team of the Year went to: Whitmore &District Active Living Group.

Volunteering Supportfor Young People

Winner: Stephanie Mayer -Maryhill Children's Centre

In her nomination for Stephanie, Kate Tomson-Rayner said: “Stephanie has been volunteering at the children’s centre for just under ayear. She attended the centre activities with her children and wantedtogivesomething back.

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Steph became the SessionLead for Maryhill Explorers Stay and Play session. She plans activities, delivers the sessions and promotes them within the local area.

Since Steph has taken on the role she has planned for and delivered weekly sessions that have beenattended by over 100 0-5 year olds since the sessions have been running. The families attending state that the group is welcoming and supportive. That Stephhelps them by sharinginformation on other services and activities in the area. They also say that the children love coming to the Maryhill Explorers sessions as theyhave fun and can take part in activities that theywouldn’t be able to do at home. Stephhas also taken on the volunteer role of the Parent Representative on the Newcastle Family Improvement Board. She helps to shape services and provides aparent’s point of view. She can also bringtothe meeting any suggestions from parents who attend her group. As part of her volunteer role, Stephhas been kind enough to allow us to film her for the Staffordshire County Council #DoingOurBit Campaign. In the video she speaks of why she wants to volunteer, what shegetsfrom volunteering and how she seesher role helping others. This film was distributed during Volunteers Day in November and Senior Leaders commented on what a fantastic job Steph wasdoing in the area by delivering the Maryhill Explorers group.Hereis the link for the video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RpKvvWLY B-o. As StephisanEarly Communication Champion for the Early Outcomes Fund Project, she was asked to contribute to theBBC Tiny Happy People Campaign by providing ideas and suggestions on how the BBC could offer additional resources forvoluntary groups accessing the website. This led to the BBC developing short videos and downloadable resources for volunteers to use and signpost families to. Steph had completed all of this whilst caring for her two childrenand beingpregnant with her third. She is avaluable member of the Maryhill teamand is dedicated to supporting families in the area. She is agreat assettothe Children’s Centre, and we are very proud of her contribution to our service and partner agencies too. Thank you, Steph.

Winner: Jon Cacia -BethJohnson Foundation

In her nomination for Jon, Jane Snape said: “The Healthy Generations Project is aHealth & Wellbeing Project that supports OlderPeopleto improve their wellbeing by the use of digital technology. The volunteer role is one of Digital Tech and is an intergenerational volunteering role supporting people to get online and access digital tech. The volunteer role wasofface to face, until the pandemic and not if totally remote working, either by telephone or internet. Iwould like to nominate Jon Cacia. Throughout this last year, from April 2020 to March 2021 Jon has given 156 hours. Supporting beneficiaries of the project with digital access, downloading apps, transferring files, talking through the process over the telephone to join azoom session. The skills that Jon has supported with enables beneficiaries to contact familymembers or contactother professionals and make appointments. Jon excels at information gathering both over the phone and on avirtual meeting. Jon supports on zoom sessions, ensuring group members are included in conversation. He is mindful to ask how they are and respectful of members conversations. He welcomes new members, also acts ahost of the session when required. Jon is ayounger person volunteering with the older generation and Jon deserves this award for his dedication to this volunteer role and the impact he has made to the lives of the lonely isolatedpeople that he has supported to getonlineand join in with activities that have been made available from the project.

Winner: People's Pantry Team -Alice Charity

In her nomination for the People’s Pantry Team, Stephanie Talbot said: “People's Pantry opened in 2017 when theAlice Charity could no longer afford to sustain the increased requests for support with food from local families. People’s Pantry is situated within the premises provided free of charge by Aspire, it is staffed by volunteers and all thefoodisdonated.>>

Volunteering Supportfor the Over 65’s

New Volunteer Team of the Year

<<Run entirely by volunteers, the team offer food to local families every weekday from 11am to 1pm, providing ahot drink and emotional support as well as three days of food.The team also process food donations when theyare dropped off at the Pantry following statutory guidelines, keep the Pantry clean and document all cleaning activities. They must complete safeguarding and food hygiene training. The team also complete adataform with the family, which requires tact and kindness, to ensurethat Alice Charity can monitor use of the foodbank and offer additional support as required. Sometimes the team must engage in adifficult conversation with families to advise that we can no longersupport them, although fortunately this is ararity. Often, avisit to the People’s Pantry is the first timeavulnerable family has reachedout for support so the team must be abletospot this, respond sensitively and, when appropriate, escalate the family into the Alice Charity for further support. It is essential that families feel able to visit the Pantry as often as they need, so the team make them feel welcome, respectedand comfortable. The team are alovely mixture of acouple of retired nursesand aretired teacher, an autistic gentleman, apart time lecturer, a couple of mums building up some experience before returning to work, acouple of families that we have supported in the past who now want to givesomething back by volunteering. It is important to us that the People’s Pantry team feel part of the wider Alice Charity so are always includedinevents and training. The People’s Pantry team deserve to win becausetheir kindness makes everyone feel welcome and quickly dispels any embarrassment, and their reliability ensures that People’s Pantry is openevery day.

In 2019 People’s Pantry fed 1,793 people in 2019, an 86 per cent upliftv2018. It is hard to place yourself in the position where you cannot feed your family, so it’s crucial that we offer an accessible and respectful service. The impact on our local communities, of our children going into school with afull tummy, is huge and we just couldn’t offer this service without the team of volunteers at the People’s Pantry.

Commendations in the Volunteer Teamof the Year went to: Newcastle-under-Lyme Air Ambulance Charity Shop Team; and Caudwell Children Applications Team.

Winner: Elliott Lancaster at IHaveaVoice CIC, Staffordshire Wildlife Trust and of Spirit Of Peace Ltd.

In his nomination for Elliott, Timothy Mellish said: “Elliott is an exceptional Trustee and volunteer, supporting the community for over five years across several organisations. It is rare to see an individual with the intellect, passion, and dedication, demonstrated by Elliott’sencouragement of other young people. Elliott’s impact, directly or indirectly across the range of his activities are innumerable. When attempting to segment Elliott’s broad range of activities, two themes of Youth Empowerment and Sustainability emerge. It is impressive how he has overcome challenges and accomplished so much while balancing his academic studies and at-home caring responsibilities. Elliott is aboard member of IHave a Voice CIC encouraging young people, from all backgrounds, to engage in apolitical debates and become active citizens, working in partnership with schools and youth groups to increase political literacy and engagement. Elliott was instrumental in developing the regional Youth Ambassador Programme to discuss what’s happening in politics, contact MPs and design social media campaigns. The purpose of Elliott’s work is to support the goals for improving mechanisms for people to get their voices heard -their views do matter. As aTrustee of Staffordshire Wildlife Trust (SWT), Elliott ledthe work to establish the local Youth Council, chair debates, increase youth engagement, and provide a more comprehensive community activity range. Including mobilising social media platform techniques to increase youth volunteering. Founding the Sustainability Project Group (as chair), he lobbied for SWT to become carbon neutral by 2025. As aTrustee of Spirit Of Peace Ltd, Elliott is leading the organisation’s regional governance and communications arrangements and working with international partners in developing countries. Bringing people together across ethnic, cultural and national boundaries, fostering harmonious relationships to work for the ‘common good.’ Forming partnerships and providing project support to energise local partner initiatives by connecting themwith projects and leaders abroad. Elliott deserves this award, as he has demonstrated to his peers, staff and management what leadership with integrity is as a young person. Elliott has arare depth of integrity and therefore can get things done without offending or upsetting people; this is coupled with respect for process and controls. His work makes him an excellent ambassador for all young people, having been a representative at parliamentary receptions and featured in local media, on BBC News Website,onThe Wildlife Trusts ‘Our Bright Future’website, to name just afew.Elliott has beengenuinely inspirational in showing what can be achieved. He has taken every opportunity to widen his experience, excelling in so many different university life areas and beyond. His contribution to his peers and broader society is exemplary, and we feel befitting of aVolunteerStar Award.

Commendation in the Trustee of the Year category went to: Hayley Jones at The Nappy Project.

Winner: Natalie Lennox at Caudwell Children. Natalie was nominated for the award by Ellie Chesterton.

Trustee of the Year

Young Volunteer of the Year

Winner: Elena Sudlow at Maer Village and Community

In her nomination for Elena, Sue Jackson said: “Elena is the busiest person in our village and plays a huge role withinour community. During this lockdown period especially, she has played an even bigger supporting role....so she really is our star volunteer. Elena has always been an active member of Maer village and has been on the Village Hall committee forseveral years. She gives her owntime freely to organise and support events in the village as well as provide help particularly to her more elderly neighbours –for example, transport for hospital visits or other appointments, collecting the fish and chips forthe quiz night and cake baking for the Christmas Fair. Last year a new local Activity Living Group was formed to provide a community service to the more elderly population and tackle rural loneliness. Elena quickly volunteered to become secretary and events organiser for this group helping to organise the monthly meetingsand book events for the members –including theatre trips, tea room visits and informative talks. As along standing member and clerk of the parish council she ensures the local and wider community is represented and informed on all local issues. When lockdown happened this role became even more important as she provided an information leaflet that was delivered to all parishioners offering support (and her own contact details)during this very difficult time. She took on shopping tasks and prescription collections for many of the elderly people who were having to shield, and organisedthe set–up of several WhatsApp groups for each area of the parish to enable folk to stay in touch with eachother. This has been hugelysuccessful and in some areas (Maer village especially) this has absolutely rejuvenated the community to come together,get to know andsupport each other, and have alot of fun. Quite early on during the lockdown she organised abook/jigsaw/magazine swap in the village hall whichmeant cleaning all the donated items herself before they were swapped. Using our WhatsApp group she organised afood donation collection for the Alice Charity based in Newcastle and delivered two car loads of items to them. Her latest idea was to make afun mapofall the‘Lockdown’ residents of Maer using cartoon pictures, and has now organised making this into atea towel that everyone can purchase. And if all that wasn’t enough,she nowwants to get involved with the set-up of anew community coffee shop. However, what most people in the village don’t know, that alongside all of these brilliant activities and giving of her time to the local community, she also supports her partners’ elderly parents who live many miles away in Telford. If you want ajob done, ask abusy lady and this is certainly Elena. Several of us have said to each other: “she deserves amedal.” So Iamreally hoping that this nomination will show you why she is a deserved winner of aVolunteer Star Award.

Commendations in the Volunteer of the Year category went to: Peter Till; and Rose Walley, both at Newcastle-Staffs Foodbank.

Winner: John Cooper at Bradwell Lodge/Chesterton Community Sports College

In her nomination for John, Jennifer Cooper said: “John has held voluntary roles over asignificant period of time. Despite aperiod of serious ill health and continued healthproblems (involving cancer and heart problems) John has continued in these roles. Firstly, he was afounder member and continues to be an active committee memberofPorthill Residents Association. This is now avibrant community group, with excellent engagement withmanylocal residents. Secondly,heis the Chairman of Bradwell Lodge Community Centre. He has fulfilled this role for the last12years. The lodge was faced with closure so if it was not for the action of people such as John, this resource would be lost to the community. Currently the venue is available for hire for functions, there is abusyprogramme of activities and events and the volunteers like John run the community centre day to day ensuring its availability, security and maintenance. He also was afounder of providing afun day for the benefit of the local community and continues to play apivotal role everyyear in organising and running this community fun day at Bradwell Lodge. This event has become well established in the community calendar, it is very well attendedand enjoyedby community members of all ages. The eventisfreeto enter and there has been live music, donkey rides, fair rides, fairground games, circus skills, market stalls and refreshments. John is also aschool governor at Chesterton Community Sports College and has volunteered for this role over the last 26 years. John has been alongstanding part of the team that has helpedto secure the present success of this school. He also served as aschool governor for St John FisherCatholic College for asix-year period. He is always keen to help people no matter how busy he is and has served in all he doeswith dedication and pride. He obtains fundingfor a community Christmas tree and lights which is enjoyed by the whole community each year. John really does want to make adifference in the life of local people and help the community to become abetterplace for all to enjoy. Ifeel that the numberofactivities he has involved himself with over many years demonstrateshis passion to support thecommunity and not many people give so much of their time over an extended period to support local causes. Many people may not have continued with such roles when faced with serious ill health; however, John has shown that he is utterly determined to continue to support the community despite his problems. In the face of real adversity, he has shown true selflessness, continued drive and courage.