Hope4 are delighted to have been awarded The Kings Award for Voluntary Service. This is the highest award a local voluntary group can receive in the UK and is equivalent to an MBE for volunteer groups.
Hope4 is one of just two Warwickshire organisations and 281 charities, social enterprises and voluntary groups to receive the prestigious award across the country this year.
The charity started life as a soup kitchen in the porch of St Andrew's Church after a small group from local churches formed a focus group looking at homelessness in Rugby. Hope4 developed their services over time to create the Hope Centre, which works with people experiencing homelessness and Rugby Foodbank, which works alongside Trussell to end the need for food banks across the UK.
The charity work tirelessly to end homelessness and poverty in Rugby. The small staff team could not offer their level of support without the 80+ highly dedicated volunteers (many from local churches) who give over 10,000 hours of their time each year to serve their community in Rugby.
In the last year, Rugby Foodbank has provided over 7,000 food parcels (40% to children) while the Hope Centre has worked with 195 people who are homeless. With over 100 tonnes of food donated by the local community each year, the dedicated group of volunteers’ collect, sort and pack tonnes of food each week to support people struggling to afford the essentials.
Rugby Foodbank provide more than just food. The volunteers offer a listening ear and a warm welcome to people who have fallen on hard times, as well as long-term support through a financial inclusion programme.
At the Hope Centre people who are sleeping rough, sofa surfing or in temporary accommodation can access food cooked by volunteers, warm showers, clean clothing, laundry services, computers, mental and physical health care, ESOL lessons, and specialist support with housing and job applications.
The King’s Award for Voluntary Service aims to recognise outstanding work by local voluntary groups to support their communities. It was created in 2002 to celebrate Her Majesty The Queen’s Golden Jubilee and was continued following the accession of His Majesty The King. 2024 marks the second year of The King’s Award for Voluntary Service.
Hope4 will receive the award crystal and certificate from The Lord Lieutenant of Warwickshire, Tim Cox, at a ceremony next year in Rugby. In addition, two volunteers from Hope4 will attend a garden party at Buckingham Palace in Summer 2025, along with other recipients of this year’s award.
Diana Mansell, Chair of Trustees, said:
“This is a great honour, and I am thrilled that our group’s work has been recognised in this way. The award is one of the highest awards any charity can receive. It pays enormous tribute to the incredible input and dedication of both our current volunteers and to those who have over the years served Hope4 at the Hope Centre, Rugby foodbank and the Winter Shelter. The expansion of our work and the lives impacted simply could not have happened without our volunteers. Working with people in crisis can be hard because you see so many people struggling, but we know that what we do makes a real difference. It is a joy to be part of such an amazing group and such a compassionate community at large in Rugby who support our work in so many ways.”