Chigwell Teenager wins Redbridge Young Citizen of the Year Award
16-year-old Hannah Chowdhry cares passionately about making
a difference to her community. During the coronavirus pandemic, she is on the
frontline helping at a daily project to feed the homeless and vulnerable in
Ilford, East London as the youngest volunteer for the British Asian Christian
Association.
Hannah started volunteering at the association’s food bank
and Meals for the Homeless project in January 2020, which included cooking
meals for the rough sleepers and putting herself through a food safety course.
She has built up a strong bond with many of the rough
sleepers, including Dee, an army veteran who was shot in the back in
Afghanistan and has been living on the streets for five years.
He said: “I want to thank Hannah for everything she’s done
for me. She took me shopping, she’s taught me how to cook, she’s taught me food
hygiene and she even helps out at the homeless unit to feed us homeless people,
she’s taken every little step to help us and I want to thank her very
much."
At secondary school, Hannah became aware that some pupils
were using legal highs, so she started a campaign that led to the creation of a
borough-wide reporting portal to help map drug-related crime.
Hannah is also a long-term campaigner against knife crime and now sits on a youth reference panel for the Mayor of London’s Office for Policing and Crime. Last year, Hannah organised a knife crime summit involving local police and crime prevention organisations as well as relatives of victims of knife crime.
Concerned by the number of knife crimes as well as cuts to
youth services, Hannah raised the funds to open a non-alcoholic “chill out
lounge” for teenagers at Clementswood Community Centre in the most deprived area of
the borough of Redbridge to give young people a safe place to hang out in Ilford.
She is both an Essex and a Redbridge Youth Councillor.
Hannah is a former pupil of Kantor King Solomon High School, but now attends Davenant High School in year 12.
Redbridge Rotary were so impressed by Hannah’s community
work that they nominated her for a Rotary Young Citizen Award.
Hannah said: "As a passionate anti-knife crime
advocate, I am extremely concerned about the rising level of violent crime we
are seeing on the streets of London and Essex. I feel very honoured to receive
the Rotary Young Citizen Award. I know that rotarians are doing their hard work
to defeat polio around the world. And then for them to notice me doing my work
for the community makes me feel special. So I'd like to thank them for giving
me this award.”
Redbridge Rotary Club meets every Tuesday evening at Luigi’s Restaurant, 5 Beehive Lane, Ilford, IG1 3RG at 7pm for 7.30pm start.
Keep it in the family.
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