Isolated Sunderland pensioner gets doorstep birthday surprise from SAFC hero Gary Bennett, the Mayor and more

Football hero Gary Bennett, the mayor and more turned up at the doorstep of an isolated 75-year-old to give him a birthday to remember.
Watch more of our videos on Shots! 
and live on Freeview channel 276
Visit Shots! now

Anthony Dunn from Millfield has been self-isolating throughout the pandemic and has been supported regularly by the city’s Young Asian Voices (YAV) charity who’ve been delivering his shopping.

For his 75th birthday, the charity decided to go the extra mile by arranging for a special doorstep delivery.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

They arranged for a host of visitors, including Mayor of Sunderland, Coun David Snowdon and his wife Coun Dianne Snowdon, former SAFC star Gary Bennett, local police officers and fellow YAV staff to make a doorstep visit to hand over his present.

City dignitaries, as well as police officers and members of YAV visit Anthony Dunn, centreCity dignitaries, as well as police officers and members of YAV visit Anthony Dunn, centre
City dignitaries, as well as police officers and members of YAV visit Anthony Dunn, centre

Kumareswaradas Ramanathas (Ram), manager at YAV, said: “Our Young Asian Voices Charity volunteers wanted to surprise Anthony and make it a special day for him by taking usual weekly shopping along with a special birthday cake provided by BakingStop. We also had special guests singing happy birthday to him.”

He added: “We hope we made his day with the surprise by celebrating his birthday and affirming that he is not alone. It has been a tremendous event and I am thankful to everyone who has been part and parcel to this memorable day.”

It comes as the Echo is running its #ActsofKindness campaign to highlight the great work being done to support our communities during this time.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

If you know of any acts of kindness, contact the news desk on [email protected]

The pensioner was given a doorstep birthday surprise to rememberThe pensioner was given a doorstep birthday surprise to remember
The pensioner was given a doorstep birthday surprise to remember

A message from the Editor:

Thank you for reading this story on our website. While I have your attention, I also have an important request to make of you.

In order for us to continue to provide high quality and trusted local news on this free-to-read site, I am asking you to also please purchase a copy of our newspaper.

Our journalists are highly trained and our content is independently regulated by IPSO to some of the most rigorous standards in the world. But being your eyes and ears comes at a price. So we need your support more than ever to buy our newspapers during this crisis.

With the coronavirus lockdown having a major impact on many of our local valued advertisers - and consequently the advertising that we receive - we are more reliant than ever on you helping us to provide you with news and information by buying a copy of our newspaper.

Thank you.

How to subscribe to the print edition

It’s easy to subscribe to your local newspaper. We have arranged a special 20 per cent off subscription offer for people to take advantage of. Visit www.localsubsplus.co.uk, choose the newspaper title, the type of subscription and enter your details.