Top award for SSAFA Derbyshire branch
SSAFA, the Armed Forces charity recently recognised its Derbyshire branch with the Sir James Gildea Global Volunteer Team Award for its “inspirational” leadership.
SSAFA’s Sir James Gildea Awards were created to recognise the staff – voluntary and paid – for their exceptional contributions and commitment to SSAFA’s activities and values. The awards were presented at SSAFA’s Annual Members’ Meeting in London at the Victory Services Club on July 10 by Kirsty Bushell, one of SSAFA’s Vice Presidents.
Noted within the citation for the prestigious award is “…the leadership within the Branch is inspirational. The Branch Secretary works six sometimes seven days a week promoting SSAFA and other members of the Branch in Bolsover and Derby also do an excellent job raising funds and providing a service over and above that asked of SSAFA volunteers.”
Mike Madin, the branch secretary and a caseworker, said: “The Derbyshire branch has a small and dedicated team of volunteers covering the county, as well as visitors who provide invaluable support for veterans and their families in the north-eastern part of the county.
“Working to overcome the problems of loneliness and isolation for their clients, using face-to-face visits or telephone calls, this team had over 1,300 contacts with their clients in the last 12 months alone.”
The branch was part of the pilot scheme in the East Midlands for the introduction of SSAFA’s National Delivery Project.
Mike said that the branch had to change its operating procedures and the work focus of some of our volunteers to align with the objectives of the project, adding that the volunteers adapted to the changes while continuing to provide a quality service.
He added: “Our branch accepts the Sir James Gildea Global Volunteer Team Award as acknowledgement of the hard work, dedication and commitment to SSAFA’s aims. It particularly feels like recognition of the efforts of the team in the transition to the new structure and objectives of the charity.”
All at SSAFA send the volunteers of the Derbyshire branch their heartfelt congratulations on receiving this award.