Kent community champions honoured at Make a Difference awards

The winners from this year's Make a Difference awards

Community champions have been honoured in an award scheme run by the BBC.

The Make a Difference Awards celebrate local heroes who work tirelessly to improve their local communities.

The Kent winners were announced at a ceremony on Monday at Priestfield Stadium in Gillingham.

Emma Thomas, winner of the Volunteer category, said she had come across some heart-breaking stories in the course of her work at The Hygiene Bank Medway.

Winners were announced in eight categories to recognise bravery, a great neighbour and volunteers, among others. The other finalists received Highly Commended awards.

The eight winners were:

• Volunteer: Emma Thomas, who runs The Hygiene Bank Medway, distributes about 800kgs of products a month to people in desperate need of hygiene essentials.

• Community Group: The Dover smART Project, run by Dawn Foulkes and Laura Graham, supports more than 200 young carers and older people, using art in a group setting, and by providing remote care packages.

• Fundraiser: Jonjo Heuerman has been fundraising since he was nine years old after losing his grandmother to bowel cancer, raising hundreds of thousands of pounds through walks, cycle-rides and marathons.

• Carer: Michael Giles works with adults with learning disabilities at Aspens residential centre in Pembury, teaching them how to grow fruit and vegetables and how to look after animals.

• Great Neighbour: Rachel Pearson, who lives in Canterbury, has worked tirelessly to bring her neighbourhood together, connecting more than 450 households with a social network for borrowing, helping and supporting each other.

• Bravery: Motivational speaker and author Ryan Harland was diagnosed with Borderline Personality Disorder in 2017 after abuse in his childhood and a devastating bereavement. He now draws from his own experiences to help others.

• Green: Dorothy Chapple, who is in her 80s, sets out almost daily, whatever the weather, to pick up rubbish with a litter picker in the village of Westerham.

• Together: Sarah Drage lost her father to alcohol addiction at the age of 17, and since then has been helping other people affected by a loved one's drinking.

Emma Thomas said she has heard some heart-breaking stories of deprivation

Emma Thomas, winner of the Volunteer category for her work at The Hygiene Bank, said she was "overwhelmed" by the award but said it gave "a sense of achievement" to know their work had been recognised.

She said: "Hygiene poverty is a somewhat hidden crisis... what many consider basics have now become luxuries. Everyone deserves to feel clean and confident."

Mike Giles of Aspens, winner of the Carer award, said: "I didn't think I was going to win anything. The other three [nominees] all do good jobs, any one of them could have one this prize."

And Dawn Foulkes, founder of Dover smART project, which won the Community Group category, said: "I can't tell you how we excited we are [to win]. Our social media has gone bananas this morning. That in itself is amazing.

"The legacy of this I am sure will stay with us for the coming year. For us this is a huge, huge deal."

Make a Difference was set up at the beginning of the pandemic in 2020 as a virtual notice board for those able to offer help and those needing support.

To date, more than nine million people have interacted with Make a Difference across all 39 local BBC radio stations.