Our first Local Hero is Allen!

Allen was nominated by his work colleague, Mary-Ellen, who let us know Allen truly is a local hero as he works tirelessly with at-risk youth at TYMS.

Allen goes above and beyond in his role as a mentor for youth and their families. On the week of the Alert Level 4 announcement, Allen and his family were packed and ready to move to Australia but were unable to do so given lockdown restrictions. They were fortunate to have family to stay with, but given the quick turn of events it was a challenging time for his young family.

Despite this set back, Allen continued his work in the community. Allen was an essential worker during the nationwide lockdown delivering 40-50 food parcels a day to families in need with his colleague and close friend, Sai Bai. Sadly, during the lockdown period Sai Bai passed away which was very tough on Allen. We asked Allen how he maintained his positive outlook on life given the hardships faced, “it’s going home to my wife and daughter who fill my cup when it’s empty” says Allen. Pretty lovely, don’t you think.

Allen’s journey as a youth mentor was ignited after seeing the number of homeless young people on the streets which really struck a chord with him. Allen started as the “lunch guy” where he grew a close bond with the youth and eventually became a mentor.

Allen has also been the Samoan Santa for his workplace where he dresses up every year and delivers presents to all the families his company work with – this made us love Allen even more!

Although Allen continuously mentioned that he is not a hero and the work he does is not a job for him but his passion, to us and the eyes of many others, Allen truly is a local hero and we couldn’t be more proud to reward him with a $500 NorthWest gift card which he undoubtably deserves.

Thank you, Allen, for your amazing work and thank you Mary-Ellen for shining light on a local hero who sincerely deserves this recognition and reward!