A Stockport man who works at the Amazon fulfilment centre in Manchester has been nominated for a national award thanks to his outstanding efforts supporting the local community.

Peter Morgan, who works at Amazon in Manchester as a team lead, was nominated for a national Amazon Stars award by his colleagues at the fulfilment centre.

Amazon Stars, now in its fourth year, is a UK-wide Amazon campaign that recognises and rewards Amazon employees who go above and beyond for their local community by using their skills, time and passion to help others.

Peter, who joined Amazon in 2018, is a passionate supporter of the Manchester community, taking part in many fundraising and volunteering campaigns in his spare time. It’s this passion for making a positive impact in his community that has seen Peter nominated in this year’s Amazon Stars awards.

Peter’s support of his community means he is in with a chance of winning one of two Dream Boxes, the top prize awarded as part of the Amazon Stars campaign. A Dream Box, worth £1,500, is a personalised prize to honour Amazon’s top two community heroes in the UK.

Dream Boxes won by previous Amazon Stars include community donations, music equipment, holiday vouchers and family tickets for Disneyland Paris. Peter will find out if he has won a Dream Box in December.

Peter has been working in and around Manchester for 30 years, the last five of which have been with Amazon. As part of his role at Amazon, Peter is a member of the safety committee, teaching junior employees about hazard analysis and driving engagement with new safety initiates.

Before he joined Amazon, Peter was a chef working in a nursery to cook meals for children with special dietary requirements. Prior to that, he’d been a chef in the British Army for almost a decade.

Peter was nominated for an Amazon Stars award for going above and beyond to raise money for Comic Relief this year. He not only helped to organise and manage Amazon’s Manchester activities for Comic Relief, but also walked around the fulfilment centre 120 times to raise funds and awareness.

Speaking on why he decided to do the walk, Peter said: “We were planning what we were going to do on site for Comic Relief, and without hesitation I picked the number 120 and said I’d walk around the fulfilment centre that many times.

“The walk ended up being 129,000 steps and 49 miles in total. And I’m pretty pleased with myself because I completed the challenge in less than 12 hours. My colleagues decided to dress me up in a red t-shirt, tutu and socks for the experience, so it’s no wonder people at the fulfilment centre think I’m silly.”

Peter shared that his interest in charity work began at young age, when he asked his mum as a child if he could do something good for a nearby nursing home. Since then, he’s done parachute jumps, completed marathons and engaged with fundraising in any way he can.

Groups of teammates from Amazon in Manchester regularly donate time to charities in the local area, and it’s something that Peter is passionate about. Speaking on what he’s done at Amazon, he said: “I’ve volunteered with a local foodbank, done gardening for a special school and taken part in litter picking during Earth Month, and that’s just this year. Leaders from the organisations we engage with always come up to me as the team lead and share how appreciative they are that we’re getting involved to help them out – it’s very rewarding.”

Peter is already planning his Comic Relief fundraising activity for 2024 and shared his plans. He said: “Next year, the plan is to sit in a bath of beans for a few hours in the fulfilment centre. The great thing about doing something for Red Nose Day is that you can pick the charity you want to donate to, and I always pick a cancer charity because the cause is close to my heart.”

Peter continued: “My wife thinks I’m crazy for making all these plans. In 2001 I contracted a virus that left me in hospital for a long time, and my health hasn’t been the same since, but I’m not going to let that stop me doing good.

“Every year at Christmas I buy a scarf, gloves and food to donate to someone in need. Next year’s going to be no different when I do my Comic Relief fundraiser at Amazon in Manchester.”

Amazon Manchester General Manager Ian Jackson added: “At Amazon, we’re passionate about positively impacting the communities we serve, and Peter embodies that ethos. Amazon Stars is one of the ways that we shine a light on the achievements of our team, giving us an opportunity to celebrate the positive contribution that our employees make to local communities around the UK. Peter goes above and beyond to support our community and everyone at Amazon in Manchester is proud that he has been nominated for this fantastic award.”

Last year, the winners of the Amazon Stars awards included a community music mentor from Dartford, a pilot from Birmingham who provides aviation experiences for people from disadvantaged backgrounds and an animal rescue volunteer from Wakefield.

Amazon provides community donations and employee volunteering opportunities for its employees to support community organisations. These are two of the ways Amazon supports the communities in and around its operating locations across the UK. Amazon provides students, teachers and parents with free computer science and STEM education programmes through Amazon Future Engineer and has teamed up with charity partner Magic Breakfast to deliver more than seven million healthy breakfasts to children at risk of hunger in disadvantaged areas of the country.

Earlier this year, Amazon partnered with Comic Relief to become the official home of the Red Nose. Amazon employees across the UK hosted fundraising activities and together with their customers and partners, raised £2.7 million to support those going through the toughest time of their lives.