Film company commonUnity and Tauranga's Good Neighbour Aotearoa Trust will represent Tauranga and the Western Bay of Plenty this weekend at the Trustpower National Community Awards.
The 2014 Trustpower National Community Awards, run over three days, recognises last year's top volunteer groups and organisations from 27 districts across New Zealand.
Film company commonUnity and Tauranga's Good Neighbour Aotearoa Trust will represent the Bay on the national stage.
Joining them at the Wellington event will be representatives from 23 other voluntary groups or organisations from around the country, each of whom were also Supreme Winners at their own regional Trustpower Community Awards.
Trustpower Community Relations representative Jess Somerville says commonUnity's Kylie DellaBarca Steel and Anton Steel used community-minded innovation to fund their film, The Z-Nail Gang.
"Their outside the square thinking earned them recognition at the New Zealand Film Awards, and their involvement of a community has brought them here", she said.
Although the funding model worked for the small-sized film, more than 400 volunteers were still required on set to make it a reality.
The Good Neighbour Aotearoa Trust launched a food rescue service last year, by collecting food retailers' waste items and delivering them to charities in need.
Their tagline? "No waste. No hunger."
They save food that is good enough to eat, but not good enough to sell.
While in Wellington this weekend, each group will present for eight minutes on their achievements, also outlining why they deserve to win the top prize of $2,500.
Presentations take place on March 28 at the Memorial Lecture Theatre at Victoria University, followed by an awards dinner at Te Papa.
Along with representatives from both groups, the Tauranga Mayor Stuart Crosby and Western Bay of Plenty District Deputy Mayor Gwenda Merriman will also be in attendance.
Local groups should be looking to ramp up their efforts ahead of the 2015 Trustpower District Community Awards.
Anyone can enter a group, and all voluntary groups and non-profit organisations are eligible.
Entries open May 4, 2015 for Tauranga and the Western Bay of Plenty.