A caring schoolboy who has dipped into his own pocket to help raise funds for people less fortunate has been described as “very special”.

Bilal Muhammad, 13, of Seven Kings, has used his passion for art to help poorly children and organised a raffle to help victim’s of last year’s Pakistan floods.

His fundraising efforts earned him a nomination for the Recorder/Rotary Young Citizen Award, sponsored by the Exchange Ilford.

Bilal was nominated by his sisters Halima, 16, and Fiaza, 22.

Halima said: “He’s a very caring person. It’s in his nature. When he sees adverts on the TV he is aware of what’s going on around him in poor countries and he feels he needs to support them.”

When he was 10, Bilal organised an art competition with his own pocket money at Manor Junior School, Barking.

He asked peers to draw their own hand and decorate the outline, with Bilal choosing the winner.

The money raised from entry fees was given to charity Muslim Hands to buy a milking goat for an African family.

He also painted two calligraphy art works and donated them to charity auctions, raising �160.

He has been commended by teachers at Barking Abbey School, Barking, for helping a wheelchair-bound pupil and he is currently doing voluntary work with his school at a care home.

Bilal’s mum Ghazala said: “He’s really special.

“When he was younger he offered to walk his teacher’s dog because her mum was elderly and couldn’t really do it any more.”