Borough Social Worker Gets Her MBE with Marcus Rashford
Awarded for 28 years of service to council and voluntary work during pandemic
Manvir pictured with Marcus Rashford at Windsor Castle
A Hammersmith and Fulham social worker was at Windsor Castle last week to receive an MBE from Prince William recently at the same time as Marcus Rashford.
Manvir Hothi was given the honour for her ‘outstanding contribution to social work’ and voluntary work throughout Covid-19.
“It was an amazing day and really lovely to talk with Prince William about social work,” said Manvir, who received the award at an in-person ceremony.
“The day was made even better as Marcus Rashford received his MBE just after me, so I had a chance to talk with him about the work we do with our young people, as well as families experiencing poverty.”
The award came as a surprise to Manvir, “I am still quite overwhelmed to have been recognised in such a manner and really do appreciate it.”
However, her colleagues have reported it’s very well deserved. Manvir has worked in H&F for 28 years, initially as a community worker before her current role as a social worker, and her commitment to those in need goes above and beyond this work.
It was announced in October 2020 that Manvir had been honoured in the Queen’s Birthday Honours for her voluntary work throughout the pandemic.
Over lockdown Manvir set up a project to help NHS staff suffering from sore hands because of regular handwashing.
Manvir receives her MBE from Prince William
She sourced more than 2,500 hand creams from Boots and Avon, and distributed them to GP surgeries and care homes, as well as at Charing Cross, Chelsea and Westminster, and St Mary’s Hospitals, and further afield to Bedford, Lister, Addenbrooke’s and Papworth hospitals.
Manvir also worked with volunteers and charities to distribute 75 face shields, large quantities of biscuits and soups, 250 lip balms, 100 deodorants, and 200 body washes to those on the frontline.
Alongside these distributions she helped set up Sewing For Heroes – a group which has sewn more than 500 scrubs bags, 250 scrubs, as well as scrub hats and face masks for distribution to NHS staff and care workers across the country.
With a group of friends, she continued to support NHS staff across London and beyond as restrictions eased. This included working closely with the Legacy of War Foundation, a charity set up to support civilians affected by conflict, that distributed PPE, essential personal hygiene items, food and drink to NHS staff in East Sussex, as well as providing transport to take essential workers to and from work.
She has helped set up and run HIV/Aids awareness projects in Wormwood Scrubs prison to support inmates’ safety and education.
She also travelled to Calais in 2017 as part of the Safe Passage scheme to assess and support child refugees.
Like Reading Articles Like This? Help Us Produce More This site remains committed to providing local community news and public interest journalism. Articles such as the one above are integral to what we do. We aim to feature as much as possible on local societies, charities based in the area, fundraising efforts by residents, community-based initiatives and even helping people find missing pets. We’ve always done that and won’t be changing, in fact we’d like to do more. However, the readership that these stories generates is often below that needed to cover the cost of producing them. Our financial resources are limited and the local media environment is intensely competitive so there is a constraint on what we can do. We are therefore asking our readers to consider offering financial support to these efforts. Any money given will help support community and public interest news and the expansion of our coverage in this area. A suggested monthly payment is £8 but we would be grateful for any amount for instance if you think this site offers the equivalent value of a subscription to a daily printed newspaper you may wish to consider £20 per month. If neither of these amounts is suitable for you then contact info@neighbournet.com and we can set up an alternative. All payments are made through a secure web site. One-off donations are also appreciated. Choose The Amount You Wish To Contribute. If you do support us in this way we’d be interested to hear what kind of articles you would like to see more of on the site – send your suggestions to the editor. For businesses we offer the chance to be a corporate sponsor of community content on the site. For £30 plus VAT per month you will be the designated sponsor of at least one article a month with your logo appearing if supplied. If there is a specific community group or initiative you’d like to support we can make sure your sponsorship is featured on related content for a one off payment of £50 plus VAT. All payments are made through a secure web site. |
Jacob Phillips - Local Democracy Reporter
November 22, 2021