00:00Mayer's Community Support Centre in Herne Bay looked a little different this morning.
00:10They were sporting royal colours after being crowned with a King's Award for Voluntary
00:14Service, a national way of recognising charities and their volunteers.
00:19The food bank has been open for three years and makes sure people can access food, clothing
00:23and other basic essentials if they're struggling.
00:26It's been a long road to this, but how did the charity get on the Royal Radar in the
00:30first place?
00:31They came to us and they researched all our services and what they said is, you are like
00:36an all-inclusive holiday, you have everything.
00:40That's what judges say, it's literally all-inclusive service.
00:43Whatever people need, we have it.
00:46And it's all from waste, we reduce massive amount of waste, we have a bridge between people
00:51in need and a waste, we reduce a lot of carbon offset.
00:57Carbon offset is one of the main topics and poverty, we give the waste to the people in
01:03need.
01:04We are that bridge.
01:05Now, Mayer's has been going as a charity for about three years and during that time it's
01:09been helping the community here in Herne Bay and it's also been winning awards.
01:13But what makes this award particularly special isn't just the fact that it comes from the
01:17King but also that it highlights the efforts of their volunteers as well.
01:20Well, we've got a whole team of volunteers, some you see, some you don't, we've got people
01:24work behind the scenes, we've got people who are going out collecting every night, rain
01:29or shine, winter or summer, collecting food from the supermarkets, half past eight, nine
01:33o'clock at night and then they are making sure that people get that food and it doesn't
01:37go into landfill.
01:38So today is a combination of all that anticipation and so it's really lovely to recognise our volunteers.
01:49The award is essentially an MBE for volunteers who give their time to the cause without payment
01:53or normally much recognition for their efforts.
01:56It's very special, it's very special because we put a lot of hours in, a lot of time and
02:01it's nice to actually get something back.
02:03Well, we work so hard, like nine till three, it's just absolutely amazing.
02:10With volunteers and everything we do, it kind of helps everyone as it should.
02:15The award is quite rare, only 0.03% of charities in the country ever receive it and it's the
02:21highest honour they can get.
02:24Once Myers volunteers had their coronation, they celebrated with music and a feast fit for
02:29kings.
02:30I'm Dave Dermid for KMTV in Handein.
02:31I'm Dave Dermid for KMTV in Handein.
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