A MEMBER of staff at Barrow's Morrisons store who took on the role as a community champion has been praised for her outstanding charity work and support of the community as Christmas approaches.

Alison Coward Jewitt has worked as the community champion for the past 18 months since the beginning of the Covid pandemic.

In that time, her efforts have seen various charitable events and donations put toward various local causes, including the Royal British Legion.

One of her most recent endeavours saw her donate special donations hampers to St George’s School.

Alison said: “We do a lot of donations at this time of year – especially with Christmas fairs and events taking place.

“We’ve got lists coming out of our ears for hampers, bingo clubs, the Royal British Legion and so many others.

"It’s an important job and there’s always that next event to prepare for.

“We have a lot of Christmas hampers we are preparing at the moment.

"There are four ready to go in my house as we speak."

She continued: “We’ll always be doing some pick up packs for the Food Bank.

"That’s where we ask them what specific food or items they need and we put a pack together for them.

“We also work closely with the Salvation Army and Project John.

“We’ve done a lot of fundraising in store, and I’m glad we could do the poppy appeal collection this year since it couldn’t happen last year."

Alison said the job was something that brought her a lot of satisfaction, knowing that she could play her part in helping others.

“It’s very rewarding and I’m glad we can do all these fun events again.," she said,

“We also recently did a Wizard of Oz themed collection which people really got into.

“As community champion I think this year will be one to remember.

"We’ve got a new charity coming in next year and we’ve got new ideas of how to raise money.”