Trevor ‘thankful’ for MBE award

Trevor Cockings has been awarded an MBE in the Queen's Birthday Honours list. EMN-201013-091155001

Trevor Stephen Cockings, President and Founder of His Church Charity, has become a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) for  Services to Food Provision in the UK during the Covid-19  response.

Trevor is described as an  ‘inspirational leader’ and a  ‘courageous pioneer’ with a ‘passion to help the most  vulnerable members of the community’.

Under Trevor’s guidance, His Church’s charitable  distribution of food, clothing and supplies has grown from an £8 supermarket voucher in 2004 to millions of meals distributed through thousands of charities in 28 countries, across five  continents in 2020.

Speaking about his MBE, Trevor said: “Well we are in this together now, still.

“You don’t do this to be  recognised or get awards but it is a fantastic experience when you are.

“But I can’t say it is all about me - it is the whole team at His Church Charity who have been committed during this difficult time in our history.

“I would like to say thank you, and thank you to everyone who has committed to helping us  respond during this dark time.

Since the outbreak of  COVID-19 in the UK, His Church have provided meals for over 2.5 million people, who have been made vulnerable by the crisis as well as feeding over 10,000 NHS workers at a time when it was difficult for them to buy food especially fresh fruit and veg.

His Church also launched a ‘Rehydrate the NHS’ campaign, through which they provided thousands of drinks and snacks to NHS staff who were dehydrated due to  working in hot conditions whist wearing high levels of PPE.

During this time, His Church have stored a  further one million meals for the  difficult winter that lies ahead including the risk of national / further regional lockdowns.

Trevor said: “The next few months may be some of the most challenging our nation has ever faced, the impending threat of renewed lockdown, the inevitable major job losses due to the end of the furlough scheme and all the associated widespread financial hardship.

“Thousands of families will be struggling to put food on the table for the first time in their lives and that’s why we have been working tirelessly to stock up on food for the time ahead.

“We have one million meals in reserve and we’ll be targeting the areas worst affected such as the North West and London.

“We are also immensely keen to do all we can to  help those who’s already  tremendously stressful  circumstances have been  exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic.

“To this end we are working closely with the NHS to help patients and families affected by visiting restrictions and with a wonderful charity called Future Dreams who help breast cancer patients  and their families.

“We look forward to supporting these families not just practically with food and supplies but also with a range of wonderful clothing, accessories and children’s toys which we hope will bring some much needed and well  deserved joy this Christmas.”