BERMUDA CableVision yesterday announced the latest recipient of its quarterly Community Service Award.Gladys Madeiros, a long-time volunteer at Meals on Wheels, was presented with the award and a $1,000 donation to the charity was made in honour of her service.

According to Nathan Rollin of CableVision, Mrs. Madeiros was selected from a host of names put forward because the committee was so impressed with her efforts.

“We regularly ask the community to participate in the process by recommending someone they think worthy of our Community Service Award,” he said.

“Someone from Meals on Wheels sent a letter in about Gladys. She was way above everyone else.”

The group was impressed by the number of years Mrs. Madeiros has devoted to the charity, he said.

As well, members were cognisant of the impact of her work, that Meals on Wheels makes a significant contribution to the local community.

“She’s been volunteering for close to 18 years,” he said. “We considered that and the type of people she helps. It made a difference. They’re people who are sick, elderly people at home in bed.

“Meals on Wheels provides a genuine service. Sometimes families don’t remember to care for their loved ones. Meals on Wheels is there to back them up.

“Especially when it gets to the end of the year, we look for people who are caregivers. During the middle of the year we look at other organisations but when it comes to the end of the year we look at those people who are giving help to people in the community.”

CableVision started presenting the awards because of its own wish to aid the community, Mr. Rollin said.

“When we started the Community Service Awards, CableVision was looking for some way to be responsible corporate citizens, to see where we could help.

“There are many companies that give scholarships. We didn’t want to go that route.

“We brainstormed and came up with the idea of rewarding those people who do a wonderful job, those people who, usually, nobody notices.

“As a company we thought we should say thank you and give a little bit where we can.

“What keeps us going is that every time we select one person, we learn through the process that there are tons more out there so it’s not something that can be stopped quickly or easily.

“The community is grateful. If the Government were to pay for the service, it would cost millions of dollars each year.

“If these people were removed from society, the effect would be devastating.

“There’d be a lot of people without food, a lot of miserable people.

“We recognise these people are providing an invaluable service.”