A MONMOUTHSHIRE woman who set up her own charity to help the homeless is hoping to win the award for Community Initiative of the Year at the Britain Has Spirit Awards.

Claire-Louise Day, 42, who is originally from Undy but is now residing in Chepstow, set up Street Life Sarnies (SLS) in July 2014 to help people on the streets.

Along with volunteers in SLS, which includes her family, Mrs Day collects and donates items to various homeless projects across Gwent, with hubs in Chepstow and Bristol.

After SLS was shortlisted and voted a winner in the Regional Britain Has Spirit awards, it is now up for the nationwide vote.

Mrs Day said she is still in shock, and with a few days left to vote, she’s hoping SLS will win the Community Initiative of the Year award and receive the prize of £25,000.

She said: “It’s great, it really is fantastic. It was quite a shock. It’s such an honour to be amongst a list of great community groups and charities.

“We’re all volunteers who work and everything so it’s amazing because we are all juggling things.

“Potentially if we could win the award it would be amazing and every single penny would go into the charity.”

The Britain Has Spirit Awards was launched in response to research by Together Mutual Insurance, which highlighted the lack of community spirit across the UK.

The initiative announced the regional shortlists back in May, which the public voted for and the winners are now waiting for voters to pick their national winners, one for the ‘Regional Community Initiative of the Year’ and one for the ‘Regional Community Hero of the Year’.

To vote for SLS, visit britainhasspirit.com/vote-wales/sls