Trivallis’ Hometown Heroes campaign aims to shine a light on individuals in our communities who are going above and beyond to help people during the current crisis.
This week our Hometown Hero is Dawn Price from Blaenllechau. Dawn is the organisational manager for Cwm Taf People First; a charity that aims to empower people with learning disabilities across Rhondda Cynon Taf and Merthyr.
Along with her team, Dawn has been finding new ways to support those with learning disabilities across the valleys throughout lockdown. We caught up with Dawn to find out what they’ve been up to…
“At the start of lockdown, we all worked together to think of ideas of how we could remain in contact with people we support with learning disabilities. I managed to get funding to buy 40 iPads and we distributed them out to members. We use them for Facetime and Zoom calls to check on how people are feeling and how the virus is affecting them. We have managed to get more funding for a further 10 iPads that will be sent out to members and we are planning on how we can adapt our support, moving forward.” Dawn said.
Dawn continued: “We have also been putting posts on our Facebook page to help members understand important information on coronavirus and the lockdown. As we have members that struggle to read and write, we have worked with our illustrator to turn information into pictures to help them understand important topics.”
(Top L-R: Thomas, Pauline, Bethany, Dawn, Emma, Jenny, Stacey, Bradley and Phillip. Bottom L-R: Samantha, Carl, Lynne, Elizabeth, Darren and Rebecca.)
Rebecca Collins, a project officer for Trivallis’ Business Improvement Team, nominated Dawn for the support she has provided to her older brother, Gareth.
Rebecca said: “Dawn has always been a huge support to my family, especially following the flash flooding that happened last week (June 2020). When I couldn’t get to my family to help, Dawn personally delivered a care package to my brother Gareth. All this happened during Learning Disabilities Awareness Week and the coronavirus outbreak, which meant Dawn was already extremely busy but still offered her support where possible. Knowing that a strong support like Dawn is on hand, in communities across RCT overwhelms me. It may not seem like much to others, but this has meant the absolute world to me in these awful times.”
Dawn explained: “We decided to support those with learning disabilities and the elderly with care packages. Our team worked together to assemble the care packages and distributed them out to those all-around Rhondda Cynon Taf. I delivered one to Gareth, who’s home had been hit with the floods the same week. He really appreciated it.”
We would like to say a huge thank you to our hero, Dawn and her wider team of superheroes who have all made a big difference in our communities, especially throughout lockdown.
Here is Rebecca explaining why she nominated Dawn as this week’s Hometown Hero:
If you know a Hometown Hero that you would like to nominate, you can fill out a form here.
Visit our Hometown Hero Hall of Fame to see the other heroes in our communities, here.