Presentation of British Empire Medal – Hugh Hill
The Lord – Lieutenant, Sheriff Iona McDonald OBE, recently presented a British Empire Medal on behalf of Her Majesty The Queen to Hugh Hill in recognition of his service to the homeless community during the pandemic.
Hugh, who is the Director of Services and Development at Simon Community Scotland said during a recent interview with Caledonian University.
“I’m privileged to work with Simon Community Scotland, Scotland’s leading homelessness charity and with a team of staff and volunteers driven by compassion and determination to reach, respond and resolve homelessness. We support over 6,000 people a year at risk of, or experiencing homelessness. From living on the street to people at risk of losing their home. My role is leading the operational delivery of the services, driving continuous improvement and ensuring that our values drive every aspect of our actions and decisions. Put simply my role is to make it easy, make it right and make it happen.”
“During the pandemic we acted quickly with partners to protect the most vulnerable in our society. Recognising the risks to people who were homeless and facing a pandemic we rapidly set up emergency hotel accommodation in Glasgow and Edinburgh, the first to happen in the UK. We supported over 1,000 people into and through the Hotels during the summer, supported over 60 people to get back home, from Doncaster to Denmark, provided food, mobile phones, clothing and everyday essentials. Our efforts paid off and we reduced rough sleeping down to single figures in Scotland and kept people safe.”
Following the presentation the Lord – Lieutenant said “Hugh was clearly the driving force in the response to a massive issue arising from lockdown and it is important that his contribution has been recognised”
Hugh is pictured below with the Lord-Lieutenant and her Cadet ATC Sergeant Oliver Blunt