A postman has raised nearly £50,000 for his local community and been nominated for the Queen’s Baton Relay.
Steven Kay, 49, from Heywood has been raising money for local charities and causes since the first lockdown.
He started his fundraising by donning fancy dress while on his postal route and has since started his own charity.
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The charity, Restoring Hope, which he started with Jenny Kennedy and Bern Gee, is very active in the local community and even raised funds for a defibrillator in Darnhill, Heywood.
Speaking to the Manchester Evening News about his charitable achievements, Steven said: “I think the defibrillator was the highlight for me because it’s for the local shops on Darnhill because that is where I grew up .
“It’s already been put into action and saved a couple of lives, I believe. We started Restoring Hope about 4 or 5 months ago. We’re doing really well.
"We do Restoring Hope throughout the community, wherever we see fit- like someone whose wife recently passed away- we raised £1800 to help towards the funeral costs. We just do anything where we see fit, in the community.
“Every six weeks, we go bag packing in Morrison’s and we get £600-700 off the community in Morrisons and the donations, we put that to good use in the town.”
However, the £49,000 Steven has raised for the Heywood food bank was done through his own initiatives.
“The near £50,000 I’ve raised for the food bank in Heywood, that’s been amazing. Because it was in a perilous position before I took over," he said.
“The Heywood food bank, that’s just me separately, not with others. At the start of lockdown, I dressed up in fancy dress- as a chicken, a turkey, father Christmas, just various outfits. I think the town enjoyed it and I carried on doing it and it took off from there, raising money, about £1,000 a week.
“The food bank is my baby.”
Steven has now been nominated for the Queen’s Baton Relay by a local resident who saw his charitable work on social media.
Suzanne Woodward decided to nominate Steven despite not knowing him.
She said: “I don’t know the guy personally, and I don’t even live in the area that he delivers the mail.
“From the very first time in lockdown, I was working at home alone, you know feeling very alone at home and just saw what he was doing.
“He was dressing up in different outfits for two reasons, one was to generally bring some joy to the area for the kids and the old people, to generally bring a smile to their faces.
“But he was also using it for a very good cause, he was collecting donations for the local food bank.
“But it wasn’t just something that stopped there, it kind of snowballed.”
The Queen’s Baton Relay is the Commonwealth Games’ answer to the Olympic torch.
Before the opening ceremony of the Commonwealth Games, the baton is carried through the commonwealth visiting Europe, Asia, Africa and more.
Baton carriers are nominated for a mix of reasons, but have to fit one of the following categories: be willing to take on a challenge and have an unique and inspiring story, have made a unique contribution to society, is a figure of inspiration that positively challenges those around them, and has made a positive impact in their community.
Suzanne believes that Steven fits into all of these categories.
She said: “Another thing that made me nominate him was the way he was speaking up about mental health.
“He opened up about his own mental health problems. He did have his own mental health problems in the past and I think just giving that insight into his situation and that was really inspiring for others because lockdown has been such a tough time for a lot of people who’ve been at home and on their own.
“As well as giving the links to the organisations, I think that’s a really worthy thing to do. It’s just heartwarming to have someone there who just wants to make a difference and is actually out there making a difference.”
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