AN EMPLOYEE at a community group has been made an MBE for all her hard work during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Kerrie Higham, who is the service manager of The Well, was named on the Queen’s Birthday Honours 2021 list and said she was gobsmacked by the MBE award.

“I couldn’t believe it – it is still a shock,” she said.

The Well, where Kerrie is also on the board of directors, was founded by her husband David Higham in 2012.

It provides support to addicts and alcoholics, who are in recovery and still in addiction as well as help for their families.

The Well also provides food deliveries, access to food bank vouchers and electronic hardware for those in poverty.

“I am in recovery myself and things like this don’t usually happen to someone like me,” said Kerrie.

“I have worked as part of a team and it really is a team effort and this highlights the work done by the organisation.”

Since the pandemic began, Kerrie and The Well ensured that it remained accessible to members.

With worries over lockdown’s potential consequences, The Well transformed its online services.

Kerrie explained: “One of the first things that we wanted to do was keep the connection with people who were relying on us and our service. Everything that we did in a face-to-face capacity we made sure was online.

“We had a full online service of support groups, hubs and activities, all to provide support. There was live recovery talks, live exercise and our membership just grew massively online.”

Additionally, the 44-year-old has developed a new community support group and a family support group since lockdown began.

Kerrie has also led a partnership with Fairshare to offer extra and new food bank provision across Cumbria.