York Cares Golden Moments Awards 2024: Celebrating the city’s unsung heroes

The fifteenth annual York Cares Golden Moments Awards honoured the remarkable contributions of employee-volunteers to the city of York.

More than 90 guests, including the Civic Party, and ambassadors and volunteers from various York Cares member organizations and community partners, gathered at Aviva’s Wellington Row premises to celebrate the achievements of York’s unsung heroes.

Some of the city’s top employers are involved in York Cares, a charity that aims to make York a better place through employee-volunteering, including Ardent Financial Planning, Aviva, Benenden Health, boxxe, Cabinet Office, City of York Council, ETAS, Fera, Grand Central, Nestle, Partners PR, Portakabin, Systra, University of York, Virgin Money, and York Science Park.

The Right Honourable the Lord Mayor of York, Councillor Margaret Wells extended heartfelt thanks on behalf of the city, recognizing the invaluable contributions of the volunteers. Elly Fiorentini from BBC Radio York interviewed the winners, and Naomi Thompson, Director of Organisational Effectiveness at Benenden Health was the evening’s compere.

Awards went to numerous businesses and individuals including Johnson’s Nurseries for their ongoing support for the York Cares Environment & Sustainability programme, Portakabin for supporting Knavesmire and Wigginton Schools with community challenges, York Science Park for their involvement in Easter egg and hygiene bank collections, and Aviva for hosting a volunteering month in May, engaging over 150 employee-volunteers.

Holly Hennell, Manager at York Cares said: “We are grateful to all members, employee-volunteers, supporters, and community partners for their unwavering commitment to making York a better place. The awards are a wonderful opportunity to reward the city’s unsung heroes who do so much to support local needs and contribute to community wellbeing.”

The event also featured a raffle, which raised over £400, thanks to the generosity of local businesses.

For more information visit www.yorkcares.org.uk