A burger van owner gave away more than 2,000 meals during the first national lockdown and is now planning a special surprise for children in his village in the run-up to Christmas.
James Thomas, known as Beefy of Beefy's Baps, made and delivered around 2,300 meals to vulnerable and elderly people during the first national lockdown.
"We were going to give away 100 meals in lockdown and then it started spiralling," said James, from Gilfach Goch.
With help from the local community and Gilfach Goch Rugby Club, as well as using his own money, James set out on a "logistical nightmare" delivering meals all over the village as well as neighbouring Tonyrefail, where his burger van is based. Some days would see James deliver more than 100 meals.
As well as delivering food to those who were isolating he also set about on fundraising for the local Royal Glamorgan Hospital.
More than £1,000 was donated to the hospital while a further £500 was donated to mental health charity Mind as well as other local small charities.
Now James has set his sights on Christmas and has a special surprise in store for people in Gilfach Goch which has so far seen him stash 1,300 chocolate selection boxes in his house.
"We do more work outside the burger van than we do in it," joked James. "I lost my mother two years ago and it just keeps my mind going.
"It is just a feeling of goodness. But then Christmas – one night I was sitting there thinking: 'What can I do?'.
"This year is different for the kids, there are no Santa visits, so I came up with the idea of dressing up as Santa and going around the village to see the children."
In the first week of December James is planning on dressing as the big man himself and taking to the streets on his quad bike with a Christmas trailer on tow to deliver chocolate selection boxes to the children of Gilfach Goch.
He is also preparing for an evening in Cardiff supporting a homeless charity to feed those without anywhere to go at Christmas time.
James was nominated as a Covid hero in WalesOnline's Covid Heroes campaign which is sponsored by Amazon.
WalesOnline has teamed up with Amazon, whose own staff went above and beyond to keep deliveries going through lockdown, to recognise Covid Heroes in Wales.
We want to hear about the Covid Heroes of your community. All we need you to do is fill in the form below and nominate a person, organisation or group that has made a difference to your life in 2020.
If you can't see the survey click here: https://form.jotform.com/203034765880356
We don’t want to pick a winner – they’re all winners as far as we’re concerned – but we will contact as many of your heroes as possible to shine a spotlight on them in the weeks ahead.
James' step-daughter Courtney Thomas, who nominated him, said: "What he has done is outstanding – a lot of it has come out of his own pocket. He didn't have to step up but he did."
