Hestia holds Volunteering Awards 2023 event to celebrate volunteers

On 8 June, Hestia was joined by volunteers, staff members and corporate partners to celebrate their achievements at the Volunteering Awards 2023. It was an amazing time to earmark the extraordinary hard work of our volunteers who have shown immense courage, dedication and passion for the community. 

We currently have around 600 volunteers across London supporting adults and children for a life beyond crisis. Our volunteer roles range from gardening, to leading a zumba class, befriending to IT skills. The individuals who take on these roles share their time, expertise, knowledge and skills to help others.

We're so grateful for the time, dedication and effort every single volunteer puts in to making a difference in the lives of our service users. Their hard work does not go unnoticed. 

It was a difficult task having to shortlist the nominees for the Volunteering Awards, as we all truly believe that each and every one of our volunteers is so deserving. But we'd like to congratulate those who were nominated and shortlisted for each award!

First of all our Longstanding Awards, the Bronze Award for 5 years of volunteering was presented by our CEO Pat Ryan to our winners Melissa and Betty. Congratulations and thank you for your time and dedication!

The Dedicated award was presented by KKR for volunteers who have dedicated their efforts to support staff, volunteers, or service users.

We had four volunteers who came close to winning, congratulations to Carmen Alexandra Mitu, Maria Larrabide, Jan Robinson and Katarzyna Kapel

Congratulations to our winner of the Dedicated award: Carys!

Carys volunteers at Hestia's Newham Together Cafe service for over a year to create an outdoor space that supports people to relax, destress and inspires others to get involved in gardening. She is dedicated to continuing to create a safe place for users who are struggling with their mental health.

The Collaborative award was presented by Winckworth Sherwood. This award is for volunteers who have empowered people to work together, share experiences and learn from one another.

We had two volunteers who came close to winning, congratulations to Aimée Macleod and Andy Michaelides

Congratulations to our winner of the Collaborative award: Jane!

Jane provides online development workshops for our Volunteers and service users.

“I enjoyed turning my personal values into a value statement. It was empowering. I liked it that it was methodical and focused with a clear goal of creating a personal value statement. It was really helpful in clarifying what I value most and should help me make better decisions.” 

The Courageous Award was presented by Skanska. This award is for volunteers who have shown acts of courage, those who make the most of opportunities which arise.

We had two volunteers who came close to winning, congratulations to Andrea Thomas and Carlo Bartolini.

Congratulations to our winner of the Courageous award: Betty!

Betty has been volunteering for over 6 years and volunteers her time as part of the Better Lives Forum (BLF). Our BLF is a group of service users who volunteer on a variety of coproduction led projects across Hestia's services and central functions. Betty is an advocate for inspiring others facing challenges that you can overcome these and achieve your aspirations.

The Genuine award was presented by Sapio Research for volunteers who are genuine, listen and support others.

We had three volunteers who came close to winning, congratulations to Kelly Saraiva, Phillipa Rubins and Mahalia McPherson

Congratulations to our winner of the Genuine award: Themis!

Themis has been volunteering with Hestia for nearly two years. Themis has facilitated walk groups for people experiencing mental health issues. Themis has given support to other people that have felt isolated in Hounslow and willingly gives her time to others.

The Respectful award was presented by Royal Mail Group and is for volunteers who are compassionate, value and embrace differences and build positive relationships while volunteering for us.

We had four volunteers who came close to winning, congratulations to Carmen Alexandra Mitu, Maria Larrabide, Jan Robinson, Katarzyna Kapel

Congratulations to our winner of the Respectful award: John!

John volunteers for Hestia's Age Activity Centre a drop-in centre for older people over 60, living in Wandsworth

John is 79 years young has been volunteering for over 10 years. John’s current role is to plan day trips for members of the centre to get active and see new things. These outings have had a great impact supporting others to increase their physical activities and keep active. In addition John volunteers his time to run a weekly friendship group by providing teas, coffees and biscuits to the members and socialising with them.

Our Supervisor of the Year award was presented by HSBC Private Team, this award is to say thank you to our volunteer supervisors who go the extra mile ensuring our volunteers recieve the most out of their placements with us.

We had four staff members who came close to winning, congratulations to Cosimo Matteini, Gisele Pelosi, Sabrina Lobo and Christina Hall

Congratulations to our winner of the award: Amy Bunnett!

Amy has been working at Hestia for close to 4 years. Amy’s role in the volunteering team has grown and developed over this time, which has involved motivating and inspiring people who use our services to volunteer as part of their recovery journey. She has also worked with volunteers to create opportunities where they are able to use their skills and talents. Amy’s most recent role coordinates an online timetable of wellbeing activities for service users and volunteers across the organisation to take part in. In the last year 240 sessions have been provided with an overall attendance of over 600 people.

Finally, our highest commended award, the Volunteer of the Year was presented by HSBC Branch Network. This award recognises dedicated volunteers who have selflessly contributed their time; energy and skills to improve the Hestia's services and the lives of the people who use our services.

We had two volunteers who came close to winning, congratulations to Kai Pearson and Laura Silva

Congratulations to our winner of the award: Ada!

Ada throughout her time at Hestia has been the biggest advocate of supporting women who have experienced domestic abuse. Her personal experience of surviving domestic abuse has given her enormous passion for not only helping others who might be in a similar situation, but also for supporting Hestia as an organisation to continue to grow and develop whilst ensuring that women’s support is
provided and advocating for women’s voices to be heard. 

Ada is passionate about helping others to build their confidence and has inspired others to share their views, ideas and take an active role in contributing to how Hestia designs and delivers its services through the Better Lives Forum.

Ada has also been involved in a wide range of advocacy, campaigning and raising awareness of the importance of domestic abuse and coproduction. 

 

We’d like to say thank you to our partners for supporting our work and finally 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, search for available opportunities near you.