An everyday hero and diamond, Lauren Ezekiel
Back in June we reached out to you to showcase the everyday heroes, the diamonds, who were doing amazing things to make the world a better place. The most inspirational nomination would receive a diamond eternity ring, to say thank you.
Over two weeks, we received a huge amount of wonderful nominations. It wasn’t easy to choose a winner, but we’re delighted to announce that we’ve chosen Lauren Ezekiel, who began the WE C U 2020 initiative as a way of gifting goody bags to frontline workers.
From the moment Covid-19 hit the UK, health workers needed support. Lauren kept seeing posts on social media from NHS staff requesting hand cream, lip balm and other toiletries and knew she’d be able to help. From her initial expectations of thinking she’d be able to help out a couple of hospitals, Lauren has delivered over 35,000 goody bags, approaching £2million RRP worth of products.
Lauren was nominated to win the diamond ring by her former Lifestyle Editor at Fabulous after her commitment to bringing joy to our frontline workers through gifting self-care beauty items. WE C U 2020 has now seen more than 350,000 beauty products donated to the frontline staff and hospitals.
“I kept seeing posts on social media from NHS staff asking for hand cream, lip balm and other toiletries. I also dropped some donated gloves to a couple of hospitals and care homes near me and the staff all complained about how the PPE and hand washing was causing their skin to be sore. I felt like it was all I was seeing and I knew the beauty brands would have products to donate. Rather than sit at home feeling frustrated I thought I would do something instead. I never expected the scale of the response I was hoping for a few hundred here and there. That was 25th March and by April 1st we had over 60,000 products donated. It escalated very quickly and before I knew it, we were being offered a range of products – not just essentials.”
Lauren Ezekiel
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“This was when I decided to make goody bags. It was something I’d always loved to do when I worked as a beauty editor. A goody bag can really make someone smile. It feels personal and all I would regularly give to friends or colleagues if they were going through a hard time or to celebrate something. My birthday goody bags were renowned between my friends!”
Lauren Ezekiel
With the help of a few family members and a donated warehouse space, Lauren has been packing bags with members of the local community helping her out. She has big brand names such as L’Occitane Biore, Nip + Fab and Schwarzkopf along with an army of other businesses on board helping fill the bags with products to help lift people’s spirits and promote self-care during the pandemic.
Lauren has now donated over 35,000 bags in total and 100,000 directly requested products. This also includes 6000 kids antibacterial soaps to local schools and over 25,000 excess essentials to food banks. It’s now approaching £2million RRP worth of products. She’s applied for the initiative to be a registered CIO and has big plans.
As a thank you for her unwavering commitment to the community throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, we’re gifting Lauren a diamond ring for being such a diamond at this time!
Photographer: Rii Schroer
