Statement on National Diversity Awards 2020

It would be amiss for us to not start this blog post by wishing our team of volunteers, our supporters, communities, friends and families all the best wishes for their health, safety and wellbeing during the crisis we're experiencing.

Last year it was an incredible experience for our team to be shortlisted for the Community Organisation (LGBT+) category, and we said at the time that attending the awards evening felt like it could be a once in a lifetime opportunity for us - just to be there in a space filled with so many caring & compassionate people was a dream come true.

As we're making this statement now we'd like to confirm that we've spent considerable time considering our response and potential campaign for support of our nominations (that of the Angels along with our coordinator, Rob Wilson).

We're seeing so much incredible work happening around us, with people and organisations restructuring their support services in order to adapt to the crisis and continue helping those in need around us.

Although we continue to have a presence on our social media accounts, everything else that we offered as a group has been suspended as they relied on face to face contact or working with other agencies.

Due to this we would feel uncomfortable campaigning on support on our nominations, and even more so investing any resources into this. We feel that time and money could be better utilised in our communities, and therefore we are withdrawing our nominations for the National Diversity Awards 2020. We have made a donation of our funds to the Leeds Samaritans group, who we have worked closely with since launching, in order to do something with our funds to help others.

We wish all other nominees well in the awards, particularly those who have adapted to the additional pressures currently faced by our communities and across society.

Stay Safe.

Rob Wilson & the Angels of Freedom team