Honour for those who showed kindness
Providing a warm welcome for Syrian refugees settling in Stirling and Clackmannanshire has earned a local charity a royal honour.
Volunteer group Forth Valley Welcome has been honoured with the Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service, the highest award a voluntary group can receive in the UK.
The charity supports refugees who have been resettled locally by placing home visitors with families, supporting them to learn English, organising events for them to get together and supplying them with things like furniture, clothes and kitchen equipment.
Forth Valley Welcome is one of 230 groups to receive the prestigious award this year.
It aims to recognise outstanding work by volunteer groups to benefit their local communities.
Representatives of Forth Valley Welcome will receive the award from Alan Simpson, Lord Lieutenant of Stirling and Falkirk later this summer.
Two volunteers from the charity will also attend a garden party at Holyroodhouse in July 2021.
Save Maharaj, chair of Forth Valley Welcome, said: “We were very surprised and absolutely delighted to receive this prestigious award.
“Our organisation started because of a small group of volunteers who were passionate about supporting and welcoming refugees into our area.
“We currently have around 75 volunteers and it’s really hard to put into words the incredible contribution they make to the organisation and their commitment to the families we support.”
Since 2015, Stirling and Clackmannanshire councils have provided homes for 25 refugee families under a UK Government re-settlement scheme, which helps vulnerable people from camps in countries such as Jordan.
While councils provide basic items for Syrians’ homes, Forth Valley Welcome hand over extra items that “help to turn the house into a home” such as soft furnishings and children’s toys.
The Hilals - Ahd and Yehya - were the first Syrian refugee family to arrive in Stirling in 2016 and their daughter Miriam was the first baby born locally under the UK’s Syrian Vulnerable Persons Resettlement Scheme for families displaced by the deadly civil war. They also have three other daughters.
When Miriam’s birth was registered at Stirling’s registry office the Hilals brought Syrian sweets and cakes to the ceremony, which are traditionally offered to celebrate a birth in Syria.
At the time Provost Christine Simpson said: “The family were the first to arrive in Stirling in 2016, and it’s wonderful to have them as part of our community. I’m delighted they have felt so settled and welcome.”
Dad Yehya said the family love living in the city, adding: “We are very happy here and my children are also very happy here.”
At a Provost’s reception for Syrian families in 2018 one man said: “We have done a lot of good things since we came here. We work on a daily basis to make progress in learning English and looking for a job.
“We would like to say thank you to all who have helped us achieve integration here so far and thank you to Stirling.”