Pat Roser QSM has been a tireless volunteer at Tauranga Coastguard and Make-A-Wish Foundation Tauranga. Photo / Supplied
Pat Roser QSM has been a tireless volunteer at Tauranga Coastguard and Make-A-Wish Foundation Tauranga. Photo / Supplied
Pyes Pa identity Pat Roser is renowned for putting huge smiles on the faces of young children in her role as a volunteer for the Make-A-Wish Foundation Tauranga.
Roser, 77, has been interviewing "wish children" since 2008 and is the liaison between the child and the foundation to helpmake their wish come true and adds extra surprises.
"I absolutely love what I do. It's a roller-coaster [ride] when you ask these children, some with no hair and tubes up their noses, about their heartfelt wish. Seeing their beaming smiles when I can tell them it has come true is just so rewarding," she said.
Over the past decade, Roser has assisted 40 wish children and their families.
Since 1998 she has also been a devoted volunteer radio operator and fundraiser at Tauranga Coastguard and also trained more than 50 other operators in the past 17 years.
Roser has been recognised for her years of tireless services to children and the local Coastguard with a Queen's Service Medal in this year's New Year Honours.
The reluctant recipient said there were "many more deserving people" than her.
"But I'm accepting this medal on behalf of both teams at Make-A-Wish and Tauranga Coastguard. This is not just about me; it has very much been a team effort," she said.
Roser said being involved with these organisations was her way of "paying back" the local community who fundraised for her to have a liver transplant in Brisbane in 1991.
Derek Roser, a Tauranga Coastguard emergency response crewman, said: "Pat has sacrificed a lot of her time to give back to the community in the ways she does.
"I'm very proud of Pat, who is a generous, giving person, and so is our family."
