Reward Your Hero - Anne Dunne, Supervalu

Community 2 min read

23 Dec 2020

For the hand holders and hot-meal deliverers; the bedside carers, the grocery packers and stackers. For the ICU cleaners, late-night workers, and tear wipers – for the generous, the kind; for the lovers and the fighters. For the inspiring deed, the courageous idea, and the selfless act – for all those who made an heroic impact. This is for our Heroes of 2020.   

As part of our Christmas season here at the credit union, we wanted to recognise the heroes of 2020. In what has been a turbulent year of suffering, illness and loss for many, it has also shone a light on the everyday heroes in our society. Our Reward Your Hero competition had the aim of rewarding these heroes for their work and dedication to others in 2020.

Anne Dunne works in Supervalu Balally, Dublin for the last 17 years. Throughout the pandemic, unsung heroes like Anne put themselves on the frontline to ensure the shelves were stacked in our local shops. Anne’s daughters, Orla and Ciara nominated their mum Anne as their hero, not only for 2020, but for their whole life.

Speaking about their mum, Orla and Ciara told us the reasons why they nominated her as a credit union hero for 2020; “it’s not just about her working in Supervalu, she lends an ear to her customers, some people even come in just to see her. They’ll stand in a long queue and wait for her. It’s the highlight of some people’s day. A lot of people wouldn’t have many people in their lives, and so they come down to have a chat with her, she might be the only person they speak to in a week. Sometimes the smallest act of kindness makes a huge difference to people’s lives”.



Anne is a special asset to her local community, and this really shows in the way her co-workers and customers speak about her. Store supervisor Courtney, explains how customers come to the store just to see Anne. “People come in just to see her. Everyone who knows her, wants to be served by her and she just makes a real difference to their experience”.

Speaking about winning this award, Anne herself explains her mantra for her positive attitude “its as easy for me to smile as to be grumpy. So that’s what I do, and have been doing for 17 years.” Anne does her job in the best way possible, making a difference to people’s day in a special way, “it means a lot to people when you just stop and ask how they are doing”.

It would be difficult to find a customer who hasn’t noticed the impact Anne makes on the community, one customer told us just how worthy she was of the credit union hero award; “She’s wonderful, always very cheerful, she’s been her through the whole Covid-19 pandemic and she’s extremely deserving of your reward”.
Co-worker Alex, describes his experience working with Anne; “Shes a great woman, she helps us all her settle in and get the job done, she’s nearly like our Supervalu mam. She looks out for us and helps us with whatever we need”.

When asked what it would mean to her, Ciara and Orla, Anne’s daughters said “She’ll be shocked, she never expects anything in return. She’s our hero, she never does anything for herself, she’s always looking out for others, so we just wanted to show her our appreciation and give her a treat after her tireless work throughout the year.”

Heroes like Anne are seldom celebrated, but the work they do behind the scenes in supermarkets across the country kept us all going through 2020, and her attitude made the year a little brighter for many!