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A Trafford Council community safety officer has won a national award for her community work in Trafford. |
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A Trafford Council community safety officer has won a national award for her community work in Trafford.
Sarah Stocks, who works as part of the support team for the Safer Trafford Partnership, was presented with the Outstanding Partner Support Award for her work on the Old Trafford Kickz project.
The Kickz project is a national Football Foundation project run by premier league teams across the UK. Manchester United Foundation operates the scheme in Trafford.
Using the power of football and the appeal of professional clubs, the Kickz programme targets some of the most disadvantaged areas of the country. Kickz offers 12-18 year olds the chance to take part in positive activity three nights a week, 48 weeks of the year.
The project aims to create safer, stronger, more respectful communities through the development of young people’s potential.
“I am extremely pleased to accept the award on behalf of the council and Safer Trafford Partnership but I was surprised to be nominated by the foundation because I felt I was just doing my job and even more surprised when they announced I’d won,“ said Sarah who received her award at the awards ceremony on Thursday night at Wembley Stadium.
Sarah was nominated for the award by the foundation because of the work she has done in securing funding and getting partner agencies to support the project.
Sarah added: “The project has been really successful in Trafford since it began in September 2006 and we regularly have up to 70 young people taking part in session at the Old Trafford Sports Barn on Monday, Thursday and Friday evenings.
“I really believe in the project and have put a lot of work into securing funding and engaging other agencies to ensure that the Old Trafford Kickz project continued after the initial funding ended.”
Executive Counciloor for Community Safety, Culture and Sport, John Reilly, said: “ There is nothing more effective in steering young people away from becoming involved in or being victims of crime than being engaged in community sporting activites. The Kickz project is an excellent example of this and I am please that Sarah’s commitment to going the extra mile, to ensure the money was available to provide this opportunity for the young people of Trafford, has been recognised.”
Lee Adams, Kickz Coordinator for Manchester United Foundation said: “Since our Kickz project began, Sarah has worked tirelessly to get the good message out to partners. She has topped that off this year by exhausting every avenue for funding, finding pots we didn’t even know existed! I think in terms of being proactive she is amazing and the Kickz project probably wouldn’t exist in Trafford without her hard work and dedication!”
To find out more about the Kickz project visit www.footballfoundation.org.uk/our-schemes/kickz/ or www.mufoundation.org |
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