Jad Adams, the chair of homelessness charity Croydon Nightwatch, has been honoured with the lifetime service award at the Mayor of Croydon’s Civic Awards.
Jad Adams: Nearly 40 years of volunteering with Nightwatch
Adams has been volunteering with Nightwatch since 1979, and has been its chairman since 1992. This year is the charity’s 40th anniversary, and it continues to provide food and support in the town centre every night of the year for the homeless and, increasingly, the working poor.
As the citation, read at the presentation last week, said, Adams has “increased the range of the organisation so Nightwatch began seven-day operation, every night of the year, which has been maintained continuously.
“In 1996, Jad launched a resettlement scheme to settle formerly homeless people in new accommodation, partnering with a recycling charity to provide furniture. Some 50 people are now resettled a year. To help former homeless people to enter work or education, Jad set up a vocational support scheme to provide working equipment such as protective clothing.
“Despite the increased numbers caused by recession and mass immigration Nightwatch is still entirely voluntary, and is now the largest such organisation in the borough.”
Adams told Inside Croydon: “I have always been concerned about homelessness and wanted to do something practical to help. I volunteered one night in the 1970s for Nightwatch and realised this was an organisation I wanted to be part of. That feeling has never changed and I am proud to have been chair when we were commemorating Nightwatch’s 40th anniversary this year.
“This award is an honour and I also feel it is a recognition of the value of volunteering, particularly in a field such as homelessness which has not always received the attention it deserves.”
To find out more about Nightwatch, or to make a donation or volunteer, visit its website here.
- Still Croydon’s only independent news source, and based in the heart of the borough: 1.97 million page views 2013-2015
- Inside Croydon: Named among best regional media campaigns, 2014
- If you have a news story about life in or around Croydon, a residents’ or business association or local event to publicise, please email us with full details at inside.croydon@btinternet.com
It would be nice if our Local MPs had given Jad some recognition after their contributions to increasing his workload.
Sadly, I have a feeling it is not going to get better.