Above and Beyond Awards

The JLF was formed 2 years ago after the tragic loss of Jac The Foundation is a mental health charity plus a suicide prevention counselling services.

Nicky is nominating on behalf of Siwla, who is a member of Saron Village Voluntary group and after winning our Light up your Window competition in the Winter edition of the Tenant 2 Tenant magazine shared her prize of £50 to purchase garden tools for the Friends of Saron Hall.
Friends of Saron Hall was formed in October 2020 when Siwla invited anyone interested , to come along and help in  re-vitalising Coed Llety Gwyn Saron, picnic area and woodland walk, which had become much overgrown in recent years, with volunteers bringing along  their own garden tools.

Having real money  was pivotal to the group to able to choose where they shopped for best value for money and purchase really reliable tools, just thin what they could do with £500.

By helping people overcome any barriers to engaging with the service, by helping people feel normal during Covid, helping people solve their problems themselves by giving advice and support. By providing expertise and sharing technolgy and skills with other organisations that didn't have that capability, so that they could help others.

St Davids Avenue is a supported living scheme in Whitland, who have a social committee funded by applying for grants and raising their funds , many of the members are also Community Champions for the Council's Housing services and regularly appear in the Tenant 2 Tenant newsletter with photos of what they have been up to keep residents busy and entertained.
Organise everything from fish supper nights, knitting for charity, bake offs for valentines and Halloween and competitions, during Covid they continued this support providing meals and shopping for those who could not get out, a friendly chat from a distance and much more.
They recently won a competition to turn their dream to a reality, which will see there beautiful garden having a bit of a make over, to encourage wildlife and make it more accessible for everyone regardless of age or ability
Please vote for these wonderful people who give there time freely to improve the lives of everyone living at St Davids Avenue.

People Speak Up have provided a safe space to open up about personal experiences and stories in a judgment free environment. Providing a space to connect to others both in lockdown and out. They do so much in the community, and have been a real lifeline for people during the hard times we have had over the last year. 

By running online then in person craft workshops for people in rural areas and also supporting the mental health within the local community.

By maintaining contact with the young people through Zoom when the groups could not meet physically. Each week they met via zoom they would try really hard to make the sessions as fun an as varied as possible and would always spend time going around the group checking that all of the children were ok. This is despite the volunteers having their own families and jobs to juggle in such a challenging time. They were amazing and even ran a virtual camp for the children. They deserve recognition or bringing a sense of fun and normality into the lives of our children when so many other aspects of their lives were so different.

By providing a free service for the community of burry port, pembrey and wide throughout the pandemic.
They provide books, jigsaws and games for all ages.
They go above and beyond for the public. And there hoping to open a bigger place as there undated with donations. Thos money will help provide for the community.

This committee has been going for 20 years, organising trips and ensuring that everyone could take part. They also organised fundraising including raffles - all for the benefit of the tenants.

Helping with donations. They work endlessly donating time and energy in supporting WAA which is not Gov funded or National Lottery funded. All voluntary and out of their own pocket. I am thinking of becoming a volunteer myself in Carmarthenshire. Saving lives. They go above and beyond what is required of them, constantly fund raising and attending a huge variety of events day and night and in all weathers in order to keep their vital charity going. Their dedication to raise the endless amounts needed to keep the charity going is proof of their hard work and dedication. I do not think there is anyone more deserving of this award.

During the pandemic our volunteers and their dogs were unable to go out to do their much needed visits. We could not leave those service users that depend on the visits so we invested in automated pets and called our new project PetBots. We give out automated cats and dogs to service users that may benefit and have found that they work not only for people living with dementia but young people with anxiety and community members with mental health issues, they have gone to individuals , care homes and professionals like the Community Occupational Therapists. The evidence has been overwhelming and we want to carry on with the automated pets even when our volunteers are back visiting.

This organisation started as a Covid Support group, supporting people of Llandeilo with what they required offering a Food Bank and lots more.

Although a Community Council, they went above and beyond offering befriending calls during the pandemic. Working in 3 small areas bringing organisations together to help people in the local community. Many projects were supported such as hot food deliveries. Giving people confidence to join together virtually.

They quickly set up virtual sessions during the covid lockdowns for the young people. The activities were varied and imaginative, always lots to do each session. They delivered activity packs for each day's sessions house-to-house, which included recipe ingredients, crafts, puzzles and more. They also offered support to young people who were struggling with lockdown. It meant that the young people continued to feel connected, engaged and supported at a time when they may well have felt isolated and lonely.