A former Syrian firefighter has won a national award for his volunteer work with the Brighton and Hove based branch of a food charity.
Hasan Hazeema was recognised for hard work and dedication at FareShare Sussex where he started volunteering to meet new people and to practise his English language skills
He was the joint winner of Warehouse Assistant of the Year at the charity’s annual awards night this evening (Monday 20 September).
Mr Hazeema was a white helmet rescue worker in Syria, helping to fight fires, before coming to Britain.
He has spent his spare time volunteering at FareShare Sussex in Brighton since 2019.
And since joining he has completed forklift training and hopes soon to improve his English to a level where he can support the local fire service.
He said: “Everyone is very lovely and the staff and managers are very helpful and nice.”
Mr Hazeema has been described by his colleagues as coming along in leaps and bounds, inspiring the whole team by working tirelessly with his lovely friendly nature.
FareShare’s annual awards ceremony took place virtually, hosted by Alyson Walsh, the charity’s commercial director.
She said: “Words can’t express how much volunteers have helped us during the pandemic.
“We’re incredibly grateful for the support of all our volunteers and hope they find their experience rewarding by knowing their hard work helps local people while saving food from waste.”
In 2020-21, FareShare’s network redistributed more than 55,000 tonnes of food to people at risk of hunger – the equivalent of nearly 132 million meals or four meals every second.
Find out more about volunteering at FareShare.
