Sam Roberts, assistant training and service quality manager at Hinckley & Rugby Building Society, has been named the latest Golden Heart winner by the business volunteering charity Leicestershire Cares.
Sam has thrown herself into volunteering with Leicestershire Cares since Hinckley & Rugby signed up as a corporate member of Cares.
Sam was the team leader when 20 members of the Society’s staff decorated Hinckley Mencap’s meeting room in a team challenge organised by Leicestershire Cares. The volunteers spent a day giving it a fresh new look for Mencap’s social club members and to generate funds for the charity by encouraging more groups to hire the venue.
Sam is also one of the Society’s six volunteers who give up a lunch hour once a week to work on numeracy with pupils at Manorfield Primary School in Stoney Stanton. Hundreds of volunteers take part in Cares’ Number Partners project across Leicestershire each week.
And Sam has also helped prepare older pupils at William Bradford Community College in Earl Shilton for the interviews they will face when seeking work or applying to further and higher education. The Interview Techniques sessions are highly valued by pupils.
Sam, who also helped with the Society’s contribution to Cares’ Collect 4 Christmas appeal, said: “Finding out about the Golden Heart award was a total surprise. We all help Cares because it is a fantastic organisation that does wonderful things.
“Hopefully I can be involved for years to come. I loved decorating at Mencap and I really enjoyed the mock interviews at William Bradford. It’s great to see the transformation in the young people who sit down nervously and 15 minutes later they stand up looking so much more confident.”
Katharine Lightbown at Leicestershire Cares said: “Congratulations to Sam for being a truly outstanding volunteer. The Golden Heart is for volunteering which is generous, enthusiastic and effective – Sam is all of those and much more.”
