MAUK receives Community Champions Award for its commendable and inspiring work during Covid

From left to right – Cllr Mumtaz Khan, Deputy Chair of Newham Council, Cllr Lakmini Shah, Peter Davidson, London Planning Director of Berkeley Homes, MAUK Chairperson Sreejith Sreedharan, East Ham MP Stephen Timms, Cllr Winston Vaughan, First Citizen of Newham.

By A Staff Reporter

LONDON Aug 20: Malayalee Association of the UK (MAUK), the UK’s first and largest service-oriented Malayalee organisation, received the prestigious Newham Community Champions Award for its commendable and inspiring work since the start of the pandemic.

At the function held on 19 August 2021 at The Impressions Venue in East London, MAUK Chairperson Sreejith Sreedharan received the award on behalf of MAUK volunteers, members and directors.

Sreejith dedicated the award to MAUK supporters and the selfless volunteers, who worked tirelessly to keep the Covid relief activities running. He said: “This Award is a worthy testament of all the remarkable work, time and effort that our kind-hearted, brave and dedicated volunteers have committed, despite the serious risks and challenges they faced.”

He reminded that MAUK’s COVID relief operations in the UK and India are still ongoing and called for the continued support of all altruistic individuals and community-spirited organisations.

Individuals and community organisations were nominated for the award by council officials. MAUK received four nominations, including from East Ham Member of Parliament, Stephen Timms and Unmesh Desai, Member of Greater London Authority.

East Ham MP Stephen Timms, who was the chief guest at the event, highlighted the tremendously challenging time that the community have faced throughout the last 18 months and spoke with great appreciation about how community organisations have risen to the challenges.

He praised their tireless efforts to ensure that the community were supported during a time of grave uncertainty. Mr Timms said: “There are a great deal of families and individuals that have lost their jobs during the Pandemic and have had struggled to prove that they deserve extra support. While the vast majority of these people were finally successful in receiving this government support there remains a significant number of people that rely solely on community-spirited organisations and volunteers who go above and beyond to cater for and support this part of our Newham community. We want to recognise your efforts and encourage you to continue your remarkable work and inspire others to follow in your footsteps”.

While addressing the over 300 strong guests and dignitaries, GLA Member Unmesh Desai singled out the work done by MAUK as humbling and inspiring. He expressed his admiration for the exemplary way the communities came together to support each other.

Peter Davidson, London Planning Director of Berkeley Homes, sponsors of the event, expressed his commitment to supporting East London communities.

MAUK was at the forefront of supporting the Malayalee community in the UK and local communities of the East London to lessen the burden of the pandemic from day one. For more information and to support MAUK COVID relief activities, visit mauk.org