Good Neighbour founders John Paine and Lavina Good sort through a day's donations.
Good Neighbour founders John Paine and Lavina Good sort through a day's donations.
The winners of this year’s TrustPower Community Awards were announced at a ceremony last night presented by Mayor Stuart Crosby and TrustPower chief executive Vince Hawksworth. The Bay of Plenty Times profiles the winners.
Youth Spirit award
Adam van Leeuwen
The Trustpower Youth Community Spirit Award recipient was described as a caring, talented and motivated young man who was consistently thinking of others.
Adam starts his day by helping to run a school assembly, then when the bell rings at 3pm he heads tothe turf to coach a junior hockey team before heading to his local St John where he mentors youth. He is the student leader for arts and cultural activities and throughout the year he helps run student-led initiatives. He is also the lead student in the ICT/Multimedia team. He has recently been made a Leader where he mentors younger members to challenge themselves. He is planning to become an Intensive Care Paramedic.
Runner-up: Emily McCarthy Finalists: Ben Richards, Deborah Paine, Paula Smith, Spencer Voorend.
Heritage and Environment
The Pukehinahina Charitable Trust
Winner of the Heritage and Environment category is the Pukehinahina Charitable Trust for the Battle of Gate Pa 150th Commemorations.
The Battle of Gate Pa commemorations organised by the Pukehinahina Charitable Trust.
When the 150th anniversary was approaching, the trust was formed to organise a series of events that marked the Battle of Gate Pa. There were no paid employees and only 10 members who gave up countless hours to raise the general awareness and profile of these historical events.
It was this team that over several years rallied together the support of the community and several hundred volunteers, fundraised, organised logistics and put together a programme of events that retold these stories past. Eight incredible Maori carved posts were also erected at Gate Pa/ Pukehinahina hill.
Growing families make busy households and the Winner of the Health and Well Being category is a group working hard to strengthen these households by providing friendships and meals to families with newborns.
Bellyful Tauranga co-ordinator Alaina Parkinson.
Bellyful was launched in Tauranga in August 2012 and is targeted at families struggling to get dinner on the table whilst juggling a newborn or a sick family member as well as those new to the area.
As well as providing dinner, they provide a link and a friendly face in the community. In the past 12 months its 24 volunteers have cooked and delivered about 500 meals to more than 100 local families.
On top of this they have organised and run successful fundraisers, made follow-up phone calls, recruited and welcomed new volunteers and held monthly meetings.
Commendation: Shakti Women's Council Joint runners-up: Breast Cancer Support Service Tauranga Trust, Tauranga RDA
Arts and Culture
National Jazz Festival
For more than 50 years the National Jazz Festival has entertained residents and visitors to the Bay of Plenty. Behind the scenes there is a committed group of volunteers who work tirelessly to ensure the festival lives up to its world class reputation. The aim of the festival is to promote and foster jazz music and this year multiple events were held across five days over Easter weekend thanks to the help of 60 volunteers. Every year this event introduces jazz to new audiences through a collection of community events which this year was attended by more than 30,000 people. Commendation: The Incubator
Runner-up: Mauao Performing Arts Centre Charitable Trust
Winner of the Sports and Leisure category is a club producing sporting champions and national success stories, the Bellevue Athletics Club.
Bellevue Athletics Club.
The club goes above and beyond to ensure that recreational and competitive athletics opportunities are available. Each year about 260 children aged from 6 to 14 are taught the foundation skills for many other sporting codes through a run, jump and throw programme. They rely on a large number of volunteers to run the club.
During term one and four it's all go for this team of 20 volunteers who help put on events for the children at the club four nights a week. On top of this the club holds two annual all-day Ribbon Day Athletic Competitions.
Alongside their one employee this service is run by a dedicated team of 55 volunteers. Together they ensure that individuals do not suffer through ignorance of their rights and responsibilities or of the services available. As well as providing a generalist information/advice/referral service the team exert a responsible influence on the development of social policies and services both locally and nationally.
Tauranga Citizens Advice Bureau volunteers (left-right) Jose Jebb, Valerie Taylor, and Wendy Neilson.
Volunteers undergo a lot of training. On top of manning the bureau they have attended a number of events in the community too.
Over 39 years they have empowered thousands of people by sharing advice, links and high quality and accurate information and each month the volunteers contribute more than 950 hours to this service.
Commendation: Mount Maunganui Music School Charitable Trust Runner-up: Kidz Need Dadz Charitable Trust Inc
Supreme Winner
Good Neighbour
The 2014 Trustpower Tauranga Community Awards Supreme Winner is a group behind a logical programme that is helping dozens of charities.
It was during a trip to a Fijian village where a group of volunteers built a medical dispensary that the idea for Good Neighbour was sparked. They got thinking about making a difference in their own community in Tauranga.
The first strand of the organisation sees a group of volunteers meeting the practical needs of people who have hit a bump in life, such as illness, redundancy or burglary. There are 40 volunteers and it is estimated that about 1500 volunteer hours have gone into these projects so far.
The Food Rescue strand of the organisation sees useable food from supermarkets and cafes that's good enough to eat, but not good enough to sell rescued from the landfill and redistributed to some of the group's 12 partner agencies such as Women's Refuge or a local childcare centre. In just four months the organisation has given away 5000kg of food (or 15,000 meals) worth about $30,000.
Lastly there is the "Let's get growing" Community Gardens strand which already exists but now comes under the Good Neighbour umbrella.
