QAVS recognition for Edinburgh’s Care Van volunteers
- Those who have provided community support and empowered others receive highest number of awards
- Awardees include volunteers working in food banks, hospices and fundraising
The highest award given to local volunteer groups, The Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service, is being awarded to 244 organisations across the UK today in recognition of their outstanding community service.
Among them is Edinburgh’s Care Van volunteers, a project run by Edinburgh City Mission in partnership with Bethany Christian Trust and 40 local churches.
The van is an important source of care and support for people who are homeless and vulnerable in the capital.
Relying on volunteers, it goes out almost every day of the year providing soup, food, hot drinks, blankets and clothes, friendship, encouragement and advice to up to 60 people a night who are rough sleeping or housed in homeless B&B accommodation by Edinburgh Council.
Edinburgh City Mission co-ordinates rotas for over 40 teams that are drawn from local churches across the Lothians and includes over 750 volunteers.
Last year organisers celebrated 30 years since the Care Van first took to the streets of Edinburgh to provide food and comfort to people in need. Throughout Edinburgh’s Covid-19 lockdown, the evening and lunchtime teams have served over 20,000 meals.
Charities, social enterprises and voluntary groups in England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland receive the prestigious award for their volunteer-led work across a wide range of fields including mental health, youth, community, arts and heritage.
This year 204 organisations from England, 22 from Scotland, five from Wales and 13 from Northern Ireland will receive The Queen’s Award, highlighting the continued breadth and depth of voluntary service undertaken each and every day across the United Kingdom.
The awardees have all enhanced the lives of others through their work with the highest number of awards this year going to the community support sector, which includes food banks, village shops, fundraising events and men’s sheds.
Minister for Civil Society and Youth Nigel Huddleston said: “Our volunteers give up their time to help others and The Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service recognises their selfless acts of generosity and kindness.
“I congratulate all the awardees whose hard work and dedication is rightly recognised in this milestone year of The Queen’s Platinum Jubilee.”
Sir Martyn Lewis, QAVS Chair said: “I warmly congratulate all the outstanding voluntary groups who have been rewarded with a Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service this year.
“The level of commitment and innovation shown by these volunteers is truly impressive. We owe a debt of gratitude to them, and the countless others who give up their free time regularly to improve the lives of others in their community.”
Empowering others is also an area well represented in this year’s Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service with confidence building, training opportunities, educational support and sports all highly recognised. Volunteers working in hospices, cancer support, long-term illness, search and rescue and first aid also feature prominently.
Coinciding with the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee celebrations, The Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service recognises that volunteers continue to provide a vital social function and improve access to services across the country.
As well as This year’s recipients also include:
- Knockmany Running Club in County Tyrone which utilises an unused forest to provide a space for all ages to run, walk and ramble through accessible trails.
- Cymru Creations in Gwent is a team of professionals who give their time to run an award-winning film academy, helping young people to create their own films and develop skills.
- Bright Minds Big Futures which is a youth led movement in Stockton-on-Tees providing social action opportunities for young people and working very positively with the council to make Stockton a better place to live.
- The Buddy Bag Foundation is providing support bags to children arriving in refuges which include toiletries, pyjamas, socks and underwear, in addition to comfort items such as a book and a teddy bear. It creates and supplies over 10,000 each year which helps to restore a sense of safety to the children in the West Midlands.
- 1st Buckie Company Boys’ Brigade is challenging young people from 6 to18 years old through physical and skills-based activities, community involvement and spiritual development in Banffshire.
- The Oasis Centre which is creating communities in four parishes in Cornwall with multiple economic, health and well-being needs through food provision, social events and practical advice.