Maddie wins national BT award for her tireless work helping Plymouth's homeless and hungry

A Plymouth woman has won a national award for her unstinting work helping the city’s homeless and hungry.

Maddie Maddison, a volunteer for the Plymouth Soup Run for the past ten years, has been named UK Volunteer of the Year at the BT Chairman’s Awards. The awards are held to recognise the outstanding volunteering achievements of BT workers.

Maddie, a customer help and support advisor at BT’s offices in Eastlake Street, Plymouth, wins £2,000 for the Plymouth Soup Run. She collected her award from BT Chairman Sir Michael Rake at the BT Tower in London.

She typically spends around 20 hours a week on some activity supporting the Soup Run. Monday evenings are particularly busy when she acts as a team leader, coordinating businesses and teams throughout the city and also the collection and storage of leftover food from local restaurants, bakeries and supermarkets to feed homeless and hungry people. As well as providing food and drink, the Soup Run helps clients find the agencies in Plymouth that will help them improve their situation.

Maddie, who lives in the Peverell area of Plymouth, said: “It was a tremendous honour to get this award. Though the award was presented to me, I also see it as recognition of the fantastic work carried out by the Soup Run and its volunteers 365 days a year.

“The Soup Run is a big part of my life. I spend some time just about every evening of the week supporting its work. It’s a wonderful example of the community working together to help those people who are less fortunate than ourselves. Most of us have got plenty and yet there are people nearby with very little or nothing, who need a helping hand.”