Our Buddy Bag Foundation Awards took place in September and what an honour it was to recognise and award all of the incredible volunteers within our community who have made it possible to make a difference to children who have entered emergency accommodation after fleeing domestic abuse.
We would like to thank all of our incredible volunteers and supporters. At the time of writing, we have packed 47,208 buddy bags across 251 buddy bag brigades. Thank you to all the 4,090 volunteers who have come together to help us pack ‘bags of love’ for children who have found themselves in emergency accommodation after fleeing domestic abuse.
Without the support from every single one of our volunteers, we would not have been able to achieve what we have.
This year was a special year for The Buddy Bag Foundation as we received The Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service (QAVS) is the highest award given to UK volunteer groups, being equivalent to the MBE. The prestigious award recognises exceptional work done by volunteer groups in their communities
The Buddy Bag Foundation has engaged with over 4,000 volunteers during the last 7 years, everything we do is a team effort and we rely 100% on our volunteers. We were shocked and surprised, then as it sunk in honoured and extremely grateful. So coming together for our awards this September was a special occasion to be proud of the award and to pay our respects and thanks to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth.
The Buddy Bag Foundation Award Winners 2022
We would like to say a huge congratulations to Julie Holder and the Packed With Love team who won this year’s Volunteer of the Year award. Packed with Love are a group based in Gloucester that has collected all the items and packed 180 buddy bags for children in emergency care.
A big congratulations also goes to Jane Probert and Amy Williams who were this year’s Runner Up.
Thank you to The Lunn Agency for sponsoring this year’s awards.
Congratulations to Kerrie Padmore won this year’s Ambassador of the Year award. Kerrie from Living In Loveliness runs the Buddy Bag Sewing with Living in Loveliness Facebook page which has connected us with some incredible crafters across the UK who create pencil cases, drawstring bags, tote bags and knitted toys for our buddy bags.
A huge congratulations also goes to team Cal Brooks who were this year’s Runner Up.
Congratulations and a huge thank you to Nicholas Lee who won this year’s Going the Extra Mile Award. Nicolas is raising money for the Buddy Bag Foundation by walking 1000 miles in 2022 and has already passed 800 miles and raised an incredible £3,258.
Congratulations to BNI Premier – Givers Gain who were this year’s Runner Up.
You can support Nicholas on his fundraising journey by visiting his Just Giving page.
Congratulations and a huge thank you to Rod Hinton and the Warwickshire Freemasons who won this year’s Top Fundraiser Award.
The Warwickshire Freemasons have raised over £6,000 for The Buddy Bag Foundation and, in addition, are the sponsor of our Queen’s Award for Voluntary Services T-shirts, following the award given to us this year from Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth.
Congratulations to Andrew Perks who was this year’s Runner Up who raised £2,855 by completing a fun run.
Congratulations and a huge thank you to International Law Firm, Ashurst who won this year’s Corporate Partner of the Year Award. Congratulations to Amazon.com who were this year’s Runner Up.
Both companies sponsored and participated in their own team Buddy Bag pack and collectively packed and sponsored a total of 360 Buddy Bags.
Ashurst is a charity partner of The Buddy Bag Foundation. Find out more about how to become a charity partner here.
A huge congratulations to Harry Swinbourne who won this year’s Making a Difference Award. Harry completed the Montgomery Canal Triathlon in May to raise money for the BBF and help provide Buddy Bags for children from Ukraine entering emergency care. Harry raised a total of £850 which funded 34 Buddy Bags.
Another congratulations goes to Sylvia Keris who was this year’s Runner Up.
Thank you to Laura Brown for sending 500 of her Emotions Handbooks to Ukraine.
We would like to say a special thank you to all of our volunteers who made the event possible from helpers to bakers and a special thank you to Tina Hart-Prieto of Capture 24 Brand Photography for capturing our very special event.
Ways you can help
There are lots of ways you can get involved and help The Buddy Bag Foundation from Buddy Bag packs, to knitting, sewing, donating your skills, organising a team-building event and of course, making a donation.
If you would like to get involved with us, please contact us here or find out more information about the different ways you can help here.
