EN:Able Communities CIO Head of Operations, Simeon Perry, was delighted to attend HRH The Duke of York’s Community Initiative Awards on Tuesday 24 April at Sheffield Cathedral.
The Duke of York’s Community Initiative Award is granted annually to a small number of local organisations that having been subjected to rigorous and robust scrutiny are deemed to be: “of real value to the community, well run and an inspiration to others.”
62 amazing community groups were presented with an award by HRH Prince Andrew this time, 8 of which have been backed by the EN:Able Community Investment Fund. They were:
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Help 4 Homeless Veterans
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St Wilfrid’s Centre (Sheffield)
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Emmaus Sheffield
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The Cascade Foundation (Doncaster)
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Butterflies Dementia Support Group (Barnsley)
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Dearne Community Housing (Barnsley)
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Door 84 (York)
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Doncaster & District Deaf Society
The Initiative, which was founded by His Royal Highness the Duke of York in 1998, focusses on encouraging and rewarding innovative and inspirational community projects across Yorkshire and the Humber. It does this not only by recognising excellence, but also by providing award holders with business management support via a dedicated on-line Talent Bank, workshops, and mentoring.
PHOTO: South Yorkshire based Help 4 Homeless Veterans charity represented by its Founder Tom Wood and his wife Jean accompanied by the CEO Steve Bentham-Bates during the presentation ceremony received the Duke’s Award for their work supporting homeless veterans in the county.
Simeon Perry commented, “The Community Initiative Awards are a fantastic acknowledgement of the tremendous amount of work that each organisation does within the Yorkshire and Humber region. EN:Able Communities is very grateful for, and proud of, everything these community groups do- their contributions to the communities they work in is really inspiring. We hope, in collaboration with the Duke of York Community Imitative, to be able to work with many other community groups in the future to ensure that they are also recognised for the amazing things they do every day.”
CEO Steve Bentham-Bates said, “This is the second Community Initiative Award our charity has received in the past year but gaining this Royal Award highlights the effective work we carry out, particularly in South Yorkshire. We are grateful to the people involved in the DOYCI selection process, including Efficiency North’s EN:Able Communities Team who nominated us, who recognized the amazing work our people do to turn around veterans’ lives when they are at their most vulnerable. This award will help with our fund raising activities by highlighting our professionalism, thus enabling us to grow and help even more veterans during their times of need.”