The Evening Standard was among organisations and volunteers honoured last night for supporting victims of the Grenfell Tower fire.
Our Dispossessed Fund, set up in 2010, was commended at the Grenfell Together event for raising £7.4 million for survivors and distributing money after the blaze on June 14, 2017.
Hanan Wahabi, a survivor who lost her brother, sister-in-law, two nephews and a niece, praised the support given by Standard readers and the Grenfell Muslim Response Unit.
She said: “I can’t put it into words how appreciative we are... you don’t expect to be in this situation, and then to have people throughout the nation put their hands in their pockets and help us was fantastic.”
The event, sponsored by the National Zakat Foundation, Muslim Aid, Human Relief Foundation and Maria London, was held at Porchester Hall in Bayswater to mark the end of the Grenfell Muslim Response Unit, a support group set up in the wake of the disaster which claimed 72 lives.Panel sessions featured survivors, campaigners and charity workers discussing the events of the past 19 months, and Mayor Sadiq Khan handed out awards to those involved.
Others commended included Mohamed Omer from the Gardens of Peace cemetery and funeral company, Grenfell coroner Fiona Wilcox and Shahin Sadafi, former chairman of Grenfell United. Mr Khan praised the Dispossessed Fund and described the event as “humbling”.
