18-year-old Jewish Care volunteer, Abigail Saltman, has been presented with the Outstanding Young Adult Volunteer award at the JVN Awards 2023 at The Grove on Sunday 14 January, celebrating volunteers across all ages in the community. Abigail has been a dedicated and committed volunteer at Jewish Care for the last four years.
Abigail, who never thought she would win the award, said, “I never in a million years expected to win the overall JVN Award for Young Adult Volunteer of the Year so I am extremely honoured and humbled. Thank you to Jewish Care and JVN for recognising the volunteering work I do. I do this because I enjoy helping others and seeing the positive impact I can have.”
Richard Shone, Jewish Care’s Director of Community Services, Volunteering, Social Work, and Hospitality, commented on Abigail’s achievement, saying, “We are so proud of you (Abigail) for winning the JVN Young Volunteer Award this year. It is a testament to everything you have done. Your youth volunteering, your participation in Jewish Care’s MIKE Youth Programme, volunteering in our day centre services, and of course the magnificent fundraising you did when you jumped out of an aeroplane to raise money for Jewish Care’s new Redbridge care campus as well as the volunteering you have done for other charities, is an incredible achievement. The recognition you are receiving tonight is something you should be very, very proud of for a long time.”
“Thank you again to all of our amazing volunteers and winners this evening, we could not do what we do without you!”
Abigail, was a senior leader in Jewish Care’s MIKE youth leadership programme which motivates, inspires, and educates young people in Redbridge. She has also been recognised by Jewish Care, having also been awarded the prestigious ‘The Saul Keene Award for Excellence in Youth Leadership’ at the MIKE Youth Leadership Awards for her commitment to helping the local community as well as the Young Volunteer of the Year at Jewish Care’s Volunteer Awards.
Earlier this year, Abi’s passion for volunteering inspired her to take fundraising for Jewish Care to new heights when she skydived from 10,000 feet, raising over £3,500 for Jewish Care’s new Redbridge Development project.
Abigail is currently volunteering in Israel, so her father, Ben, accepted her award on her behalf. Proudly, he said, “As a parent, I feel a sense of reward and gratification that the work that Abigail has done, the learning that she has done within Jewish Care and the MIKE programme has paid off in demonstrating her ability to help others. I feel a sense of joy, passion, and delight that this is what she has done with a smile on her face. Anybody who has children that want to help them do something positive in life, I think volunteering is the way to go.”
Jewish Care also recognised and celebrated finalists from various other categories this year, who all show unwavering support to Jewish Care.
Nominees included Valerie Nead for the Lifetime Achievement Award. Valerie volunteers twice a week at Jewish Care’s Michael Sobell Jewish Community Centre at Maurice & Vivienne Wohl Centre in Golders Green. Just a year after Valerie started volunteering, she was diagnosed with non-Hodgkinson’s Lymphoma, Stage 4, and was then told it was incurable. However, feeling inspired by the joy that she brought to others, Valerie has continued her volunteering.
Jewish Care’s Befriending Team Coordinators were nominated by Jewish Care for JVN’s Team of the Year Award. The team make it possible for 350 older members of the community to stay socially connected by organising for dedicated volunteer befrienders to connect with older people, many who are living alone and have limited contact or are unable to get out often.
The coordinators organise for volunteer befrienders to make regular weekly or bi-weekly calls for a chat and help to support them to build friendships between befrienders and befriendees.
Lastly, Geoff Wrightman and Louise Bronstein were both Jewish Care’s winners for Volunteer of the Year Award. Geoff has been delivering Jewish Care Meals on Wheels to our clients four days a week for the past five years, creating wonderful relationships with each individual. Geoff has also been instrumental, reaching out to the local authority on behalf of Meals on Wheels, to ensure all our Meals on Wheels volunteers have permission to park on single yellow lines for 20 minutes while delivering meals to our clients. This would not have been possible without Geoff.
Louise Bronstein volunteers to coordinate 28 volunteer drivers and hosts ensuring the smooth running of Jewish Care’s Supportive Communities Tea Parties, fortnightly tea parties connecting older people, many of whom are otherwise isolated, to one another and to the Jewish community.