Zoe Coventry was presented with her award by the mayor, Councillor Gary Heather

A WOMAN who won an award for her volunteer work has described the situation facing many asylum seekers as “shocking”.

Zoe Coventry said she saw new cases of families living “in crisis” on a daily basis, often sharing one room without cooking facilities and no chairs to sit on and not enough money to survive.

The Barnsbury mother-of-four said: “The need is just so huge so it’s been an absolutely shocking eye-opener that some people are left to live on so little while they’re waiting for their refugee status, they don’t have access to benefits other than a very, very meagre home office payment.”

She said she recently sourced a pram for a four-yea-old with medical issues who was being forced to walk miles to hospital appointments because his family could not afford public transport.

Another family with a three-year-old with cancer and a two-month-old baby were being given 10 nappies a week, and were forced to go to a food bank for their day-to-day needs to be met.

One couple were offered two, non-adjoining rooms in a hotel for them and their five children. They needed a fridge to store medical supplies for one of their children, and were donated one by a charity – but the hotel refused to allow it.

All families receive a weekly home office stipend of £5.24.

They are not allowed to work, and can be waiting years “in limbo” just for a home office appointment to resolve their asylum status.

“It is not just – it is shocking. Every day, unfortunately, my eyes are opened to yet another family in crisis,” she added.

Ms Coventry won Volunteer of the Year at the Islington Volunteer of the Year Awards 2023, at an event hosted by Voluntary Action Islington at Union Chapel last Wednesday.

The four different charities she volunteers for are Finsbury Park’s Middle Eastern Women and Society Organisation, ­Little Village in Euston, The People’s Army food hub and MerryGoRound in Angel.

She described what she does as a seven-days-a-week commitment that often sees her working from 6am to 11pm.

She drives to charities and delivers food and goods to those in need and accompanies victims of domestic abuse to meetings.

“I feel like it’s my duty, because I know that by me doing even a small amount it can absolutely change the outcomes for families,” she said, explaining why she does it, even though her husband would rather she got a job that paid. That, and “just to see the relief, to see the happiness in their faces”.

She called on people to donate old clothes, children’s school uniforms, toys and larger goods to any of the charities she works for – or make a financial contribution – rather than donating to a charity shop.