Grief Encounter Volunteer wins Good Morning Britain's 'Volunteer of The Year' Award 2020
Channel: Grief Encounter
Date: 2020-12-18

We are thrilled to announce that Renu Dewan, Volunteer co-ordinator for Grief Encounter, has won Volunteer of the Year Award 2020 at ITV Good Morning Britain's 1 Million Minutes Awards, held last night. 

The awards ceremony, streamed live on Twitter, and on Good Morning Britain today, was hosted by Ben Shephard and Kate Garraway, who, along with special guest, Grief Encounter Patron Katherine Jenkins, surprised Renu, mid Choir rehearsal with the award! 

Renu has been volunteering for Grief Encounter for almost 4 years. After experiencing the death of her mother at 11 years old, and not receiving any structured help herself, she recognises the value of professional therapeutic support, and the positive impact it has on bereaved children and young adults, which led her to contacting Grief Encounter. Her own personal experiences put her in a unique position of being able to easily connect with bereaved families and understand emphatically their feelings of isolation and grief.
Renu volunteers as a coordinator for Grief Encounter and does everything from helping set up craft workshops, attending children focussed events as a mentor, registering volunteers within the charity as well as matching them with suitable and specific tasks. Her standout achievement over the last 2 years has been coordinating the Grief Encounter Children’s Choir. She liaises with all the families involved - from the initial stage of invitation to then physically joining the choir. She attends every rehearsal in person pre-Covid, and now on Zoom to ensure the children in the choir still have an outlet of opportunity! Inspired by the clinical staff she is involved with as part of her role, she is also now studying counselling so she is able to become a Grief Encounter counsellor in the future.

Renu is an amazing part of the Grief Encounter team, and someone we couldn't do we what we do without! We want to thank her for everything she has done for us and the families she has supported. 

For more information about Good Morning Britains 1 Million Minutes, please visit www.griefencounter.org.uk/1MM