Hestia holds volunteering ceremony to mark its Volunteering Awards 2022

Hestia has hosted its first in-person Volunteering Awards ceremony since 2019.

On 24 March, Hestia was joined by 65 volunteers, staff members and service users to hold the Volunteering Awards 2022. The ceremony is an opportunity to highlight and celebrate some of the passionate and dedicated individuals that give up their time to support Hestia’s services.

In 2010, Hestia was supported by around 60 volunteers. Now, every year, around 1,000 individuals volunteer with Hestia, including many of the people who use our services. Our volunteer roles are varied and dynamic, ranging from gardening, to cooking, to befriending and support groups, and the individuals who take on these roles share their expertise, knowledge, and skills to help others. We couldn’t be more grateful.

It was a tough job shortlisting for the Volunteering Awards, as we believe that each and every one deserves an award in their own right.

Here are the winners of the Volunteering Awards 2022

Volunteer of the Year: Vivienne Belgrave

Vivienne, now 78-years-old, has been volunteering at Hestia for the past 17 years. She helps other older adults who use Hestia’s Age Activity Centre to take part in activities, helps to ensure their thoughts and voices are heard, and comes up with innovative ways to make the Age Activity Centre an even better place to be.

During Covid-19, when the centre was closed, Vivienne spent hours phoning Hestia’s service users, doing food drop-offs and carrying out door step visits.

Collaborative Award: Melody* and Russell Coles

Together, Melody* and Russell run weekly creative writing and art workshops for Hestia’s service users, volunteering more than 70 hours of their time over the past nine months. 

Courageous Award: Felicity Taylor

Felicity is one of Hestia’s digital champions, joining the service in July 2021. She started running remote, one to one sessions with Hestia’s service users, helping to increase their confidence in using the internet and other digital platforms. However, Felicity has also started to run group workshops and training courses for people using Hestia’s services, helping them to get the most out of their digital and online tools, despite never have created or run any workshops and training sessions before.

Dedicated Award: Patricia Phipps

Patricia has volunteered with Hestia for the past 8 years, since she was 62 years old. During this time, she’s taken on a number of roles including supporting at Hestia’s Age Activity Centre, becoming a befriender and mentor, as well as admin roles. Patricia is passionate about ensuring older adults feel active and engaged and works to prevent them from feeling isolated. She hand writes birthday cards for every member at the Age Activity Centre to make sure they feel special on their big day.

Genuine Award: Tracey Griffin

Tracey volunteers within our mental health services in Kingston, running weekly art sessions at the service to help build confidence and creativity. She is also part of Hestia’s Better Lives Forum, working to helping other service users can share their thoughts and have their voices heard. She has created a ‘Tree of Hope’ for other people who use Hestia’s services to share their hopes for the future.

Respectful Award: Hollie Guille

Hollie supports people at our day centre in Kensington and Chelsea, which helps to support locals with their mental health. Hollie runs group activities with a focus on well-being, and has received thanks and compliments because of her approachable and friendly manner, and for always listening to those who attend the sessions.

Supervisor of the Year: Sanna Majid

Sanna started as a volunteer with Hestia’s Refuge Referral Line, which helps women experiencing domestic abuse to find safety at one of Hestia’s refuges. She has since started a paid role, and taken on management responsibilities as well as supporting a number of volunteers at the Refuge Referral Line, helping them in their role in any way she can.

We’d like to say a massive thank you to all of our volunteers for making the work we do at Hestia possible.

If you’d like to find out more about Hestia’s volunteering roles, or learn what it’s like to volunteer at Hestia, click below.

Volunteer today

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