A single mother-of-four, who dedicates her time to helping the less fortunate of Croydon, has been nominated for the Croydon Champion awards.

Claire Lewis has been nominated in the charity volunteer category for her work at Croydon Community Food Store, in Ramsey Court, near Reeves Corner.

On top of helping to run the food bank with founder Fatima Koroma, Miss Lewis home educates her 14-year-old daughter and takes care of her youngest child, who will start primary school in September.

She said: “Fatima is a good friend of mine and she kept asking me to help out, so I decided that I would be more than happy to lend a hand.

“We have been running the food bank together for three years now and we work a lot of hours.

“I usually start at 6am and do a lot of running around, making collections from Asda and Sainsbury’s, to get ready for opening time at 11am.

“We get all sorts of people turn up. We get homeless people, families and just different people from different backgrounds that need our help.”

Miss Lewis spends hours organising her four children and running the food store.

She said: “As any mother will tell you, we learn to juggle things. I had a rough upbringing – my parents split up at an early age and I lived by myself from the age of 15.

“I feel I am suited to this type of job. I am more than happy to help people that need it.”

You can donate to Croydon food bank at Sainsbury’s (Selhurst and Purley), Morrisons (Purley), Asda (Wallington), Emmanuel Church (South Croydon) and Harris Invictus (West Croydon).

OTHER NOMINEES

Neelam Shah has volunteered locally and nationally for the past 10 years