The Eves Realty Volunteer Excellence Awards. Photo/John Borren
The Eves Realty Volunteer Excellence Awards. Photo/John Borren
The "life force" of Tauranga's community, its volunteers, were honoured at the Eves Volunteer Excellence Awards today.
"Without you, it would be a far poorer place to live, thanks for enriching our lives," Tauranga City councillor Catherine Stewart told the finalists before announcing the winner of the Volunteer of theYear award.
Finalists and community leaders gathered at Classic Flyers Museum for the annual awards run by Volunteer Western Bay.
Homes of Hope volunteer and "mister fix it" Laurie Harnett was named Volunteer of the Year, with Cr Stewart describing him as an amazing and humble person who could think outside the square and fix anything.
She recalled the time he and another volunteer rigged up an ingenious contraption to shift a garden shed, thereafter earning the nicknames Barney and Fred after the Flintstones characters.
Trustee of the Year was 79-year-old Ann Kerewaro who has been a member of Multicultural Tauranga since 2006.
The award was presented by Envirohub general manager Marielle Haringa who said Mrs Kerewaro had juggled family and work commitments alongside her voluntary role.
She said the former secretary and treasurer of Multicultural Tauranga was an inspiration, saying it was truly laudable how Mrs Kerewaro juggled family and work commitments with her voluntary role.
The Youth Volunteer of the Year was Karleigh Jones from the House of Science.
The presenter of the award, The Incubator director Simone Anderson, praised Karleigh for her work which included helping to prepare food and activities for the 40 kids that go through the programmes every day.
"She assists with kids' programmes and also volunteers on Fridays for four hours to help with cleaning, counting and sorting. She has even roped in her family to help this organisation."
Today's event was organised by a Volunteer Western Bay volunteer Kara Herbert.
Photo/John Borren.
Award winners for the 2014 year were:
Volunteer of the Year, Sara Hillier-Jones - Nominated by IHC Youth Volunteer of the Year, Sinead Roach - Nominated by Homes of Hope Trustee of the Year, Peter Simmons - Nominated by Tauranga Budget Advisory Service (TBAS)
