Celebrating 500 UK Points of Light
Recognising people all around the UK who are making a difference in their community
This week the Prime Minister presented the 500th UK Points of Light award for outstanding volunteers who are making a difference in their communities.
From Grace MacArthur in the Western Isles of Scotland who doesn’t let her Down Syndrome stop her from volunteering at her local elderly care home, to Helen Fox in Liskeard who has raised over £600,000 for the British Heart Foundation, the Prime Minister has recognised Points of Light in every part of the UK. Their work has also had an impact around the world, from Dan Eley giving children in Colombia the opportunity to access skills training, to husband and wife team Mike & Sarah Hagen who are building schools in Nepal.
Two years on from the first five Points of Light being awarded to people who had been heroes in their local area during severe floods, the Prime Minister is today recognising a week of winners who stepped up during the floods over Christmas. The 500th winner is army veteran David Wiseman from Tadcaster, one of the founding members of Team Rubicon, a charity that recruits military veterans and first responders to work as an emergency response team in natural disasters around the world. As well as volunteering in the Cumbria floods in early December, as a Tadcaster resident David brought in Team Rubicon volunteers and set up a command centre to organise the hundreds of civilian volunteers who turned out to help.
Prime Minister David Cameron said:
“Over the last two years it has been a privilege to recognise so many outstanding volunteers who have made a difference in the lives of millions of people across the UK and around the world. From creating community hubs to making sport more inclusive or supporting those tackling serious illness, Points of Light have identified ways to improve the world around them and inspired others to make their vision a reality.”