Star Mum: the nomination that turned a local effort into a national story

Syebvonne Nguyen was nominated for the Hello! magazine Star Mum award by her friend and fellow volunteer Susan Tomlinson, who wrote: 'In these uncertain and difficult times, I believe Syebvonne has single-handedly inspired a feel-good cementing effect for many communities for years to come.'

The celebrity judge panel — including Lorraine Kelly, Anita Rani, Vick Hope, and Kate Silverton — shortlisted Syebvonne from hundreds of nominations. Her neighbour Rebecca Cresta, a local photographer, captured the story simply: 'I walked by her house at ten o'clock on a Sunday morning and she had been up until 6.30am sewing masks for the tree. She's such a remarkable woman.'

By the time of the nomination, Little A.R.K. had already made and distributed around 22,000 masks. Syebvonne had made PPE devices on 3D printers, cooked for NHS workers and homeless shelters, and helped build a network of mask trees reaching across London. The recognition mattered not because Syebvonne sought it, but because it showed what community-led action looks like when it is allowed to find its own scale.

A single mask tree on a Morden driveway. A shortlist in a national magazine. The distance between the two is measured in acts of random kindness. Little A.R.K. also worked with artist Helen Poh during this period to make poppies from fabric scraps, sold to raise money for The Royal British Legion — an early sign of the creative, circular approach to materials that would define the organisation's work for years to come.