Environment Agency awarded Charan Sekhon ‘East Anglia Lockdown Hero Award’ for supporting diverse communities and international students last summer during the Covid-19 pandemic and national lockdowns and for his support to his Environment Agency colleagues through the Black Asian Minority Ethnic (BAME) Network and UNISON.
Charan, a Senior Environment Officer for the Environment Agency East Anglia Area, H&S Rep and Equalities Coordinator for UNISON received a commendation from the Environment Agency for his exceptional community work with SEVA Trust UK throughout the Covid-19 pandemic and lockdowns.
Charan has been supporting and coordinating Covid-19 support projects with Bedford based charity SEVA Trust since March 2020 covering Bedfordshire, Milton Keynes and Hertfordshire where hundreds of International students and families were provided with food and other essential items since the Corona pandemic started.
He was also commended for his work within the Environment Agency in supporting his work colleagues through UNISON and the BAME networking, raising awareness about diversity, H&S and the impacts of Covid19 on BAME communities.
Environment Agency Area Director Simon Hawkins presented the award to Charan over an East Anglia Area staff teleconference attended by over 425 staff members and UNISON representatives. On this occasion, Simon said “The work Charan has been doing for local communities in addition to his day job and the support he has given to his fellow Environment Agency colleagues is truly commendable and on behalf of East Anglia Area, a big thanks to him. This shows a really good example of how people do things often in the background silently, but doing some wonderful work”.
Charan said “It has been a very tough year for everyone, the workplaces, families, local communities and the students have all been hugely impacted by the effects of the Covid-19 Pandemic. We set up a wide range of support projects through SEVA Trust and everyone worked very hard to support the local communities and international students during these very tough times for all. We worked closely with community groups, universities, UNISON, student unions and other stakeholders to reach out to those in real need and I would like to thank everyone who supported us in playing our part. Let’s hope we all can carry on supporting each other as the crisis is not yet over. I would like to thank the Environment Agency and my UNISON branch for their excellent support.”
