Kentish Gazette Canterbury & District
Shining a light on the county’s volunteers
Nominations are continuing to flood in for this year’s Kent Charity Awards, as Megan Carr reports...
The Kent Charity Awards is a chance to shine a spotlight on the good work of volunteers across the county. Among the nominees this year is My Shining Star, a children’s charity set up to support the financial needs of families going through the trauma of childhood cancer. The charity has grown considerably since its registration three years ago and continues to try to find new ways to provide further support.
In collaboration with CLIC Sargent, My Shining Star also works closely with play specialists at Medway Maritime Hospital.
The Christ Church Students’ Union Midwifery Society (CCSU) is nominated for Start-up Charity of the Year for setting up The Lucy Bannister Fund. This supports student midwives from the Medway and Canterbury university campuses who experience hardship. Named after Lucy Bannister, the fund is in memory of the third year student midwife who died in 2017 of bowel cancer.
Lucy had been passionate about providing support to fellow student midwives and devised a buddy scheme which is still in place today.
The This is Engineering campaign by The Royal Academy of Engineering is nominated for Best Use of Social Media.
Created by Sevenoaks-based Daniel Rossall-valentine in 2017, it aims to encourage more young people, from all backgrounds, to consider engineering careers. It includes a series of short videos, each profiling a young engineer who is doing something remarkable. The Dementia Buddies Scheme at Medway Maritime Hospital is nominated for Best Use of Volunteers
It has 34 volunteers working with patients across seven wards at the Gillingham hospital, including A&E.