Hilary Stent worked for Thames Reach for ten years before her untimely death in 1999. She was greatly loved by her colleagues and by the many homeless people to whom she committed herself. The Hilary Stent Awards were created in 2001 as an annual award for homeless and formerly homeless people who are trying to make big steps in their lives and as a way to remember the remarkable contribution Hilary made to the lives of so many.

The awards are presented to those people with the best idea of making the big step away from homelessness. There are no preconceptions about what the winning ideas must be, but Thames Reach is particularly interested in ones that are ambitious, unusual, make a big difference to the life of the person seeking the award and, most importantly, originate from the homeless or formerly homeless person themselves.

Previous awards have included funding of a new push bike, an interview suit, driving lessons, a study laptop, plastering tools, participation in a Chess competition and assistance with course fees towards a teaching qualification

Quite an eclectic range of awards, but each transformational for the recipient.

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Thank you for supporting and donating towards this year's Big Step awards.