A COMMUNITY group which has been delivering food parcels to those in need across the borough has been nominated for a Proud of Barnsley award.
Caring for Kendray, headed by Gavin Frost, 27, of Swanee Road, has been helping the community since its opening two months ago.
Gavin said: “We’ve been really busy since we started the scheme, and we’ve expanded quite a lot as we’ve been delivering all the way across Barnsley to places like Thurnscoe.
“We just want to be able to help out people in any way that we can and I know that people are happy with the donations that we’re getting.
“I’m not doing this to get any personal benefit or anything like that, we just want to help people and it would be nice if people would realise that.”
The group currently has seven main volunteers that help on a regular basis, with a couple of extra volunteers who help Gavin with the paperwork side of the group – but he admits that they’re always on the look out for more people to help.
“The volunteers that we have at the moment are absolutely brilliant and they’re all doing everything that they possibly can to help people out, but we could always do with more helpers,” he added.
“The support we get is usually quite good but we have had a few negative comments about what we’re doing, our aim is to support our community and we hope that’s what comes across.
“As a postman I get to see my community every day and it’s great to see everyone pulling together in a time like this.”
Gavin originally created the group as a way of dealing with his mental health, but the group spiralled and before he knew it they were helping a great deal of the community.
“Before the lockdown I was struggling with depression so this started as a way to keep me occupied,” Gavin said.
Following the efforts of everyone involved, Caring for Kendray has been nominated for a Proud of Barnsley award in the community group category.
Upon hearing about the nomination, Gavin said: “I’m shocked to be honest with you, a lot of the comments we get can get to us but it’s nice to see people appreciating it because we appreciate all our volunteers.
“It’s not just me who does everything, even though I might be the face of it there are so many other people in the group that deserve this award but it’s great that we’ve been nominated.”
