Captain Emma Henderson is among those honoured for services to charity during Covid-19 in the New Year honours.
Captain Henderson accepted redundancy from her job as a pilot at the start of the pandemic and set up Project Wingman, a charity that helps both NHS workers and airline staff deal with the consequences of the pandemic.
Catholic educators, the former head of humanitarian at Christian Aid, and Christians who coordinated local responses to the coronavirus pandemic are among those also recognised.
Professor Francis McCormac, Principal and Vice-Chancellor at the University of Stirling, was awarded a knighthood for services to education and to the economy, and Marilyn Pound, chair of governors at the Cardinal Wiseman Catholic School, Ealing, London, was made an MBE for services to education.
Leonie Huie, head of health and social care at Bishop Challoner School in Shadwell, was awarded an OBE for services to education in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. Christian Aid’s former head of humanitarian, Nick Guttmann, was awarded an OBE for services to humanitarian crises.
Before his retirement this year he transformed the charity’s humanitarian relief work, and led humanitarian responses in Afghanistan, Iraq and Darfur, as well as in the Pakistan earthquake, cyclone Nargis in Myanmar, the Indian Ocean tsunami, the Haiti earthquake, the Syrian displacement crisis, the Nepal earthquake and the Ebola crisis in Sierra Leone, along with working on conflict and food shortages in the East and Horn of Africa and the DRC, and conflict in Borno State, Nigeria.
Most recently, he led on the response to the Covid-19 pandemic in Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean and Asia and the Middle East.
Speaking about his honour, Mr Guttmann told Christian Aid: “I was really shocked to see my name there! It’s a tremendous honour. I could never have achieved it without all the amazing people at Christian Aid and across the globe who shared the vision of relieving the suffering of those in greatest need in a way that empowered individuals and communities to take control of their own lives and build a better future for themselves, their families and communities. In this uncertain world, now more than ever before we have to do what we can to relieve suffering wherever it occurs, listening to those affected, responding to their needs and working together for a better world.”
Community service and volunteer work, particularly in response to hardship caused by the pandemic, was at the forefront of this year’s awards. Among the volunteers recognised were David and Christine Bagley, who helped found the Christian charity Urban Outreach in Bolton and set up Bolton's Humanitarian Food Hub. They were both awarded MBEs for services to the local community.