Karen Southworth

Karen has been a regular and committed volunteer for many years and willingly gives up large amounts of her time to care for some of the most vulnerable members of our society including young people, elderly, homeless people and those living with life-limiting illnesses.

In the past year Karen has given up her time for many charities and activities including:

Crisis at Christmas - spending Christmas week with those homeless or living alone and helping them to enjoy a Christmas with companionship, warmth, hot meals and access to essential services that they may otherwise miss out on

Aylesbury Sea Cadets - providing trustee, administrative and pastoral support every week for a local charity that provides opportunities for learning life-skills, training, adventure and fun for young people. As Charity Trustee and Committee member, Karen's drive and organisational skills are used to raise funds from charitable trusts that buy much needed training equipment, eg: boats and chartwork equipment. Since starting this role, Karen has increased fundraising by over 400% and this year has secured key donations that will help the group to grow and move to new premises in the next year.

Winter Warmth - being a team leader and administrator for a local charity that provides shelter for homeless people during the coldest months of the year. The shelter offers a bed, a friendly face, warm meals and one-to-one help with re-housing and drug/alcohol dependencies. The charity directly helped over 50 people who would otherwise have been sleeping rough in the coldest months of the year. Hundreds of warm meals were served, and the majority of guests were given practical, emotional and financial help to find and move into their own accommodation. Karen's recruiting of volunteers meant that more members of the local community came into contact with, gained understanding of , and in some cases became advocates for this vulnerable group. As their understanding increased, members of th