A second Thurrock teenager has been honoured by the The Jack Petchey Foundation and awarded one of its community awards.

Last month Thurrock Nub News reported on an award presented to Josh Bateman for his efforts in making hundreds of personal protection visors for health workers.

And this month Thurrock 18-year-old Tarkan Ben Oz is in the spotlight.

Tarkan is a First Responder at St John Ambulance and after his A-Level exams were cancelled he has been volunteering in the emergency department at Lewisham hospital and the ICU at Nightingale London to help others during the covid-19 pandemic.

So far, Tarkan has provided over 200 hours of voluntary service on behalf of St John Ambulance.

Alongside this, Tarkan has also been shopping for elderly relatives and neighbours who are shielding.

Thomas Kimball, Tarkan's teacher and the person that nominated him for the award, said: "Tarkan was willing to put himself at risk to ensure less and less people lose their lives to this pandemic. I am incredibly proud to have taught Tarkan in the past and flourish into the honed young man we see today."

Tarkan told the Jack Petchey Foundation: "Having my A-level exams cancelled, I just couldn't stay at home during this pandemic. Instead, I decided to utilise the skill I learned through volunteering to support the NHS at this critical time. This award means a lot to me because I hope it will inspire other young people to go the extra mile and do something amazing!"

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Tarkan was awarded £50 from the Foundation and a letter from Sir Jack to congratulate him on going the extra mile to help others in this lockdown.

Trudy Kilcullen MBE, CEO of the Jack Petchey Foundation said: "At the Jack Petchey Foundation, young people inspire us all the time with the incredible work they do and that has not stopped in the current situation. We want to recognise more young people across London and Essex doing inspirational things to help their community and hope these Community Awards will motivate others and truly showcase the positive things young people do every day."

Members of the public wishing to nominate a young person should simply visit the Jack Petchey nominations site and fill out the form to submit their nomination including contact details and reason for nominating.

A young person can be nominated for any actions they are doing to help vulnerable family members, the local area, school or youth group during the covid-19 situation as long as these abide by the government guidelines for social distancing.

These could include: delivering groceries to a vulnerable neighbour, creating content to inspire others (e.g. artwork, videos and blog posts), helping a youth group to adapt their work online, contacting local isolated people on the phone, and supporting a parent/friend keyworker.

The Jack Petchey Foundation has worked with schools and youth groups across Thurrock since 2008 providing £1,402,921 in funding to schools and youth clubs in the local area.