Dave Cooke
Nominated for Citizenship award
Dave Cooke from Wrexham, has been chosen as a Finalist for the St David Award for Citizenship for his work in establishing the ‘Operation Christmas Child’ organisation.
This year marks 25 years since he established ‘Operation Christmas Child’ to deliver Christmas gifts to children living in orphanages and communities living in poverty after being moved by the disturbing television pictures from Romania following the fall of the Ceausescu regime.
He decided to put together a team to deliver a small amount of aid to orphanages in Romania but the idea captured the imagination of the public in North East Wales and North West England and on that first trip they took 9 lorry loads of medical supplies, food, clothing and Christmas presents to Romania. It’s estimated that this initiative has now reached more than 113 million children worldwide.
In 2006, Dave also founded Teams4u, a charity which focuses on working in vulnerable communities to transform lives through education and health. At present, they are working in Uganda, Sierra Leone, Belarus, Crimea and Romania.