A “family” workforce has scooped top prize in a prestigious awards event.
Many selfless volunteers and tireless community groups have been honoured in the Highland Third Sector Awards, held online tonight.
Hosted by Highland Third Sector Interface, the annual awards included three new categories to recognise the immense work of volunteers during the pandemic.
Around 120 guests attended the online event, with contributions from comedian Janey Godley and Aileen Campbell, minister for communities and local government.
Leah Ganley of HTSI said: “This last year, more than any year, we have seen a spectacular response by volunteers and community groups.
“Across the Highlands we saw thousands of people coming out to volunteer for the first time to ensure their neighbours’ needs were met in this crisis.
“These volunteers were joined by many, many longstanding stalwarts of communities across the region, who have been the backbone of Highland life for years.”
Named Social Enterprise of the Year 2020 was Highland Blindcraft of Ardconnel Street Inverness, singled out for how it looked after its 23 employees, 19 of whom have a disability, during the pandemic.
HTSI said: “This award is about recognising good practice, innovation and impact of social enterprise in Highland.
“Highland BlindCraft makes high-quality beds, but that’s not all it does.
“It’s all about making people feel involved, valued and cared for.
“As a charity and a business, the employees’ wellbeing is at the very heart of the charities philosophy and practice.
“The workforce could almost be described as a family – a close family looking out for one another and supporting each other in their individual development and quality of life expectations.
“Highland BlindCraft is committed to lifelong learning and improving the quality of life for all the people they are responsible for.”
Denise Clark of Highland Blindcraft said the team was thrilled to receive the award.
She said: “When we had to close in March we put in place a few things to keep everyone together through a Facebook group, weekly emails and phoning anyone who didn’t have access to those.
“It was to keep everyone’s spirits up.
“When we came back off furlough we decided on a system of having two teams, effectively bubbles, who would always work together, so that if anyone had to self-isolate the other team could step up.
“It’s worked really well, with the teams making every effort to stay away from each other.
“We have also stepped up our social media and online selling and are finding lots of local support with orders picking up hugely.
“We all feel so fortunate to still be here, working the flexible furlough scheme and with no redundancies.”
The Covid Response 2020 volunteer award went to working mum Heather Fraser from Grantown.
During the first lockdown she set up a volunteer helpline from 8am to 10pm, seven days a week, for anyone who needed food shopping, prescription delivery, help with things like dog walking, and maintenance.
The Caithness Covid Resilience Group were named Community Cohesion Champion for supporting their most vulnerable during lockdown, while Mikeysline was named Community Welfare Champion for responding to people’s fears and distress with their You Are Not Alone call back service.
Two youngsters were awarded Youth Volunteer of the Year 2020, Hannah Rosie of Thurso and Keegan Campbell of Golspie.
Hannah helped Thurso Community Development Trust secure £4000 through the Youth Philanthropy Challenge for Covid community support, wellbeing packs and the setting up of the community larder Sharing Shed, which assists 40 people weekly with food.
Keegan, 15, used his rapport with the elderly to help deliver meals every week during lockdown, keeping their morale up with his chat and helping them out with household chores and shopping.
The full list of recipients can be found here.
