Chloe’s parents Mark and Lisa Rutherford and Liam’s mum Caroline Curry received a Special Recognition award for the North East after creating the Chloe and Liam Together Forever Trust, established in memory of the teenage couple from South Shields who died in the Manchester Arena bombing last May.
The initiative was launched to help aspiring performers and young sports men and women achieve their dreams.
More than £20,000 has already been raised by the trust, which has also received the support of celebrities including Newcastle United and Sunderland managers Rafael Benitez and Chris Coleman, rapper Stormzy and former England cricketers Michael Vaughan and Graeme Swann.
Celebrities have shown their backing by wearing the trust’s blue and pink wristbands.
Bursaries are currently being offered to those living in the North East with plans to extend the scheme nationally.
Graeme Brett, Westoe Travel owner, said: “This is such a great honour to the families and so well deserved.
“They are dedicating all of their time to the trust as they want to help other young people achieve their potential that Chloe and Liam were denied.”
Mark said: “We want to help people achieve their goals, to fulfil their dreams. That was something that was taken away from Chloe and Liam.
“There are so many talented people out there that can’t afford to go any further. It would be amazing a few years down the line to see someone at the Olympics or in the West End, doing what they love because of Chloe and Liam.”
Lisa thanked the South Shields community for their continuing support describing how the teenagers “would be proud” of the trust’s achievements so far.
Caroline added: “When we first started, we did it because so many people wanted us to do something. Even strangers were messaging us saying they wanted to do something.
"It gives us a purpose - it would have been easy to crawl into a shell and never come out but that would have meant those two gorgeous kids we brought into this world would have left without leaving their mark."
