Jewish Care

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Date:  6 June 2007

Jewish Care pays tribute to its volunteers at awards ceremony

Thirteen individuals and volunteer groups received the prestigious Betty and Aubrey Lynes awards at Jewish Care’s annual volunteer awards ceremony, held on Tuesday 5th June at the Brenner Community Centre at Raine House in Stamford Hill. The awards were presented by Jewish Care’s president Lord Levy and by Lady Jakobovits.

Addressing the 150-strong audience, Lord Levy praised the charity’s workforce of 2,500 volunteers, saying: “We could not function without our volunteers. The time, energy, love and commitment that you give to the work you do is quite extraordinary. We owe you a huge debt of gratitude.”

This year the charity introduced a Fundraising Achievement award presented to the RAGS golf committee, which has raised over £1.5m from a series of golf days and 86 year-old Auschwitz survivor Freddie Knoller, who set up the Friends committee for the Holocaust Survivors’ Centre.

Unsung Hero awards went to Ian Ephraim, a Brenner Centre volunteer, Malcolm Feiger from Sarah Cohen House; Mavis Hallegua, who assists the fundraising department; Jon Jacobs, who coordinates Sinclair House’s football programme and telephone befriender Fan Simon.

Young Volunteer awards went to James Lewis and Anthony White from the Sinclair House youth section and The Princess Alexandra Home’s Young Friends Committee. Innovative and Creative Project awards went to teams from connect@southgate and the Jewish Extra audio magazine, produced at the KC Shasha Centre for Talking News & Books. Creating an Outstanding Relationship awards went to Vi and John Rubens House volunteer Robert Galman and to 10 year-old Ella Janner Klausner and her family for their work at Rosetrees.

Earlier, Jewish Care’s chief executive Simon Morris welcomed the guests including the family of the late Betty and Aubrey Lynes, after whom the awards are now named. He said: “Volunteers enable us to do so much more than care for people’s physical needs. You extend friendship and keep our clients in touch with the wider world, bringing the community into our homes and centres.”

The evening closed with a tribute from Jewish Care’s chairman Stephen Zimmerman: “It is clear that you share two outstanding qualities – commitment and modesty. You are compassionate, caring and dedicated to your work but you don’t seek recognition for it. We thank you sincerely for everything that you do – you set a wonderful example.”