We are excited to inform you that our co-founder Ravi Bhanot has been awarded an MBE and honoured in the 2021 New Year Honours list for services to wellbeing and community action. For decades Mr Bhanot has cultivated community spirit in east London, making a particular difference in Black, Asian and Ethnic Minority communities.
“I never expected this kind of recognition after 19 years of community work – it is a privilege. But it is collective. It is for all those volunteers who work day in and day out to help others.”.
He is made an MBE for services to wellbeing and community action including during the Covid-19 response.
At the height of the coronavirus pandemic, Mr Bhanot co-ordinated 3,000 lunches a week for NHS staff, homeless people and those self-isolating and on their own. He worked with local charities to provide care parcels with essential items for the homeless and delivered meals to NHS frontline staff and the vulnerable.
Back in 2017 Ravi Bhanot has identified the increasing number of heart attacks within high-risk ethnic minority groups and co-founded Make It Beat – the first national charity that provides free Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (CPR) training to community groups in four South Asian languages.
“We hope this recognition will encourage even more people from the BAME communities to donate blood and organs and learn CPR.” he declared.
