Trivallis’ Hometown Heroes campaign aims to celebrate the stories of those going above and beyond for others in communities across RCT.
This week our hero is Sam Jones from Beddau. Sam has been volunteering at the Beddau Food Hub since March, spending her time organising collections and encouraging people to donate on social media. We caught up with Sam to find out more…
“I started volunteering at the Beddau Food Hub in March after being made redundant from my job. I decided I wanted to use my time to help others out where possible and, as I live in Beddau, it means I can help people who live in my community. I began helping by reaching out to people on Facebook and using local community pages to encourage others to donate items that we needed to the hub.
“I post shopping lists of items we need on Facebook and offer to collect donations or people can drop them off at the church or at the box outside my home. Another way is through an initiative called ‘Tin on the Wall’ that we run on certain days in local areas. I ask people in the community to leave a tin of food on their wall, outside their homes and I drive around collecting them.” Sam explained.
Beddau Food Hub is a charity that was set up around three and a half years ago, by Ken and his wife, Christine. The hub is run out of the CF38 Community Church in Beddau and has helped hundreds of people in need, especially during lockdown.
Ken, who organises the Beddau Food Hub, nominated Sam for all her support and dedication to the hub over the past few months. Ken said: “Sam is a real asset to the hub and to those in our community. She came on board in March and has helped wherever she possibly can, giving us so much of her time. We can always count on her. Sam has raised awareness of the hub on social media and encouraged others to support our work through donations. From reaching out to businesses, to going out and collecting donations several times a week, she has made a real difference and deserves to be recognised for it.
“We’re not just a food hub, we’re a support unit. We collect and distribute food parcels, but we also offer friendly chats when we see people. There are many people struggling and by reaching out, we can sign post them to the relevant services they may need. We’ve seen so many new faces over the past few weeks of people needing support, from all different backgrounds. We will do our best to help anyone out, not just those living in Beddau.”
Sam was also nominated by Sandra, who thinks she is an inspiration. Sandra explained: “Sam is relentless. Although, I have only met Sam through donating items to the hub, I am amazed by her dedication in supporting families in need. She has been volunteering her time to the food hub, following her job loss, along with supporting her own family. She is such a selfless person who deserves to be recognised for a tremendous effort. Sam is an inspiration, along with the others who volunteer at the hub. Without people like this, the world would be a darker place.”
Sam not only spends her time volunteering to help the Beddau Food Hub, but she has also been volunteering for RCT as a COVID–19 mobile responder, completing welfare checks, shopping for people and collecting prescriptions. There really is no stopping this hero!
We would like to say a big thank you to Sam for all that she has been doing to help support others throughout lockdown and those she continues to help daily, in Beddau and in communities across RCT.
You can visit our Hometown Hero Hall of Fame to see the other heroes in our communities, here.