Nafisa Miraf from Beeston-based mental health charity Touchstone is one of five finalists in the Volunteer Manager of the Year category of the prestigious Third Sector Awards 2014.
Nafisa has been shortlisted for making an outstanding contribution to volunteering at Touchstone which includes massively boosting the numbers of volunteers at the charity and also improving the quality of the work it does with vulnerable people across Leeds and Dewsbury.
Since taking up her post in June 2012, Nafisa has grown the number of volunteers to over 100 and has supported and trained volunteers at other local charities, including Leeds Advocacy Support and PAFRAS (Positive Action for Refugees and Asylum Seekers).
Alison Lowe, Chief Executive of Touchstone, who specialise in working with people from different cultural backgrounds across West Yorkshire, says:
“Volunteers play a pivotal role in helping us to deliver mental health services across West Yorkshire. As a result of Nafisa’s hard work and commitment we have seen the number of volunteer hours increase to an unprecedented 7,500 in the last two years and scores of volunteers have secured permanent jobs. Whatever happens at the awards’ final, Nafisa is definitely our Manager of the Year!”
Winners in the Third Sector Excellence Awards 2014 will be announced at a dinner in London on September 18.
Well done to Nafisa for doing a great job, Touchstone do some important work in the community with some great staff & volunteers. But there’s part of me that cringes a little when I read of these kind of award ceremonies. More often than not they’re not about what you know, but who you know and whose slickest at filling the forms & spinning publicity. Meanwhile there are a lot of far more modest people just getting on with their bit for the community that go unrecognised. I just sometimes think it would be nice to see award systems that quite rightly recognise brilliance and dedication in the community wherever it is, without the politics & PR overriding all.