Eveline Carlisle from Comber

Life-savers, fundraising stars and community heroes make the final of SuperValu Superstars

 Six inspirational individuals from the County Down area, including Michelle Boyd and Eveline Carlisle from Comber, have been shortlisted for the SuperValu SuperStars awards and attended a prestigious awards ceremony at Titanic Hotel, Belfast in late November.

Now in its second year, the initiative recognises those who have gone beyond the call of duty to help people and communities in need. The campaign launched in June and received hundreds of inspiring nominations. 

The six local heroes are among more than 30 finalists from across Northern Ireland shortlisted within the categories of Young SuperStar, Fundraising SuperStar, Unsung SuperStar, Community Group SuperStar, Social Enterprise SuperStar and SuperValu Action Cancer SuperStar.

Selected to represent the category of Fundraising SuperStar are John Jardine from Banbridge, Michelle Boyd and Eveline Carlisle from Comber and Nathan Pierson from Annalong. County Down’s two Young SuperStar finalists have been named as Sophie McCarthy, aged 12 from Downpatrick, and Brendan Morgan, aged 13 from Crossgar.

Michelle Boyd was nominated for this award by her 17 year-old daughter, Taylor Pollock, who received life changing spinal surgery for a rare condition on account of her mum’s fundraising efforts. In a bid to change her daughter’s life before her condition left her paralysed, Michelle raised £25,000 in just four months to send Taylor to Barcelona for this pioneering surgery.

Eveline Carlisle has been nominated as a Fundraising SuperStar to recognise sixty years of fundraising for various causes in her community. From churches and organisations to people in need, Eveline is always first to come up with a fundraising idea and thrives off being able to help people in need.

The overall winner will walk away with £1,000 for themselves and a £1,000 donation to a registered charity of their choice.  All other finalists will receive SuperValu vouchers.

Stephen Bogle, SuperValu Brand Manager, said: “The SuperValu SuperStars campaign uncovers and recognises remarkable individuals from all parts of the community who have gone beyond the call of duty.

“As well as rewarding kids and adults who have done something remarkable, the introduction of additional categories this year means we will be able to reward the work done by people in the social enterprise sector, in community groups and even among SuperValu colleagues who work tirelessly all year to raise funds for Action Cancer.

“There were so many fantastic and unique entries this year and the judging process is never an easy task, but we have an extremely strong group of finalists and the winner will be a very deserving one.”

SuperValu SuperStars’ media partners are The Sun and U105 and the initiative is sponsored by Denny, Action Cancer, Robinsons and Dove.

For a full list of finalists log onto www.supervalu.co.uk or visit www.facebook.com/SuperValuNI