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Volunteer stories |
 Today we hear from new volunteer Martin:
"Hello! My name’s Martin and I signed up with Herts Welcomes Refugees last September. The Bell Hotel in Epping was all over the news and protests were happening up and down the country, and I thought I should do something practical to make a difference. A quick Google search led me to the HWR website – I was very impressed what they had achieved since 2015 and signed up immediately. Annabel and Veronica were very welcoming and helped me through the introductory process and the necessary on-line courses. Unfortunately I only have one free day a week, so have not yet been as involved as I might have wanted, but the various WhatsApp groups show me how much is going on all over Hertfordshire. The grant from the National Lottery and even more the King’s Award for Voluntary Service have underlined how well-regarded we are and what valuable work we do. Just to give you a bit of background about me and my family: with Jewish ancestry, my Dad and his parents had to flee from Germany in 1939, very much at the last minute. At that time only two countries were prepared to offer them asylum, New Zealand and Venezuela. With hindsight they were lucky to have chosen New Zealand. As an adult Dad settled in the UK, was a priest in the Church of England and was very active in the anti-nuclear, anti-apartheid and human rights movements. He now lives back in New Zealand. His experiences as a refugee child made a great impression on me. I was born in London, but now live on the Bedfordshire/Hertfordshire border, am married to a brilliant lower school teacher and have two daughters, both currently at uni. I work for the Co-op at their distribution centre and very much admire the values of the co-operative movement, founded in 1844 and still going strong." Thank you so much Martin, and for raising funds for us by running a marathon. See our news item and you can sponsor Martin here: https://gofund.me/f5a30b46b Comments are closed.
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