Let us know about your community heroes, so we can spotlight their wonderful achievements as part of this year’s Suffolk Day celebrations.

East Anglian Daily Times: Paula Lushington, community champion of Morrisons in Ipswich Picture: NANSEN ROAD CHURCHPaula Lushington, community champion of Morrisons in Ipswich Picture: NANSEN ROAD CHURCH (Image: NANSEN ROAD CHURCH)

Today we are paying tribute to some of those who have gone above and beyond - and we want to hear about many more.

Suffolk Day 2020 is going ahead on Sunday, June 21, but the ‘big weekender’ gets under way on Friday, June 19, to celebrate all that is great about our county.

A key strand of Suffolk Day 2020 centres on the county’s greatest asset – its people.

Email us to let us know about all your heroes, especially those who have stepped up during the Covid-19 pandemic. Please send us details about the person, what they’ve done, and a photo, and we will publish as many of these as we can.

East Anglian Daily Times: Favourite characters have been bringing joy to children in Ipswich Picture: SOPHIE ANNETTFavourite characters have been bringing joy to children in Ipswich Picture: SOPHIE ANNETT (Image: Sophie Annett)

MORE - As Suffolk Day returns, how can you get involved?Julia Welham has contacted us to pay tribute to her colleague, Paula Lushington of Morrison’s supermarket in Ipswich, who has been the store’s community champion during the coronavirus pandemic.

She said: “Paula has been doing so much to support the local community by supporting Morrison’s Feed the Nation campaign, and distributing food to local food banks and charities so that people of Ipswich are able to have food when they are struggling.

“She has also been running Morrison’s doorstep deliveries, by picking people’s food shopping and delivering it to their door.

“She is always chatty and smiley, and no matter what is going on in her life, she always has time for others. So from me, thanks, Paula, you’re amazing, keep up the good work,”

East Anglian Daily Times: Romina Arefin, innovation engineer at UK Power Networks, who is coordinating the companys befriending service and taking part in the programme. Picture: UK POWER NETWORKSRomina Arefin, innovation engineer at UK Power Networks, who is coordinating the companys befriending service and taking part in the programme. Picture: UK POWER NETWORKS (Image: UK Power Networks)

Julia added: “I truly feel she is one in a million. We are supporting Ipswich/Claydon Bus Shelter, Nansen Road Church, Families in Need (FIND) and several others where we can. It’s truly heartwarming to be able to help the community.”

Power workers step up to help ease isolation

Loneliness Awareness Week runs from June 15-19, and UK Power Networks has partnered with charities to launch a confidential telephone befriending service aimed at tackling social isolation during the coronavirus pandemic.

The company let us know about its dedicated volunteers. Befrienders will phone older people and those with hearing and sight loss regularly during work time through the company’s Donate a Day scheme, which gives over 6,000 employees two paid days annually to volunteer. Romina Arefin, innovation engineer, is co-ordinating the programme.

East Anglian Daily Times: Litter Free Felixstowe taking to the beach on Suffolk Day last year Picture: DEBBIE BARTLETTLitter Free Felixstowe taking to the beach on Suffolk Day last year Picture: DEBBIE BARTLETT (Image: DEBBIE BARTLETT)

Volunteer befriender Jennifer Leitao, from Bury St Edmunds, is one of those who has taken part in Donate by Dialling, a scheme organised together with West Norfolk Befriending and Deafblind UK.

Jennifer said: “Following training and interviews, I was matched by a small charity, West Norfolk Befriending, with someone who wanted a friendly ear and to chat, something we may take for granted, but which others sadly lack.

“I was born in Africa and moved across three continents before the age of nine, which gave me a lot of life experience. I have gained compassion, understanding and tolerance and have developed those qualities as I’ve got older.

“I have volunteered in different ways throughout my life. To volunteer is to give back. It’s really personal and quite subjective. We are all passing through this life and I believe that when we give something, we get something back ten-fold. It’s like a miracle happening, like an angel coming, just when you needed it.

“I had two interviews before being matched with a person who has similar interests to me. We have family in the same areas. She has a dependent and is a carer for that person and I have an elderly mother and am a carer for her. We both enjoy gardening and the allotment.

“I hope that my calls give her friendship, somewhere to park some of her anxieties and frustrations and know she has a friend at the other end of the phone to listen. She will know that I will call her regularly.”

Anyone interested in becoming a befriender should visit the charity’s website.Pikachu helps to spread good cheer

Meanwhile, in the Chantry area of Ipswich, popular characters Pikachu and Rabbit have been entertaining local youngsters.

A group of children from Birkfield Drive, aged from three to 15, have been dressing up and standing on the grass with the colourful animated characters.

Families come out and sit in their cars to see them.

Organiser Sophie Annett said: “We put on the Chantry Community Group Facebook page what time we are coming out to let the parents know and they come out in their cars.

“We stand on the grass and the parents and children come past and give us a wave or a beep, including people on the way home from work or going to work.

“We had someone who lives in the flats who came with chocolate to share with the kids and a note to say thank you, as we had cheered her up during lockdown.”

To let us know about the caring people who have gone that extra mile, send us an email.MORE - Get Suffolk Day flags and bunting at our Suffolk Store