The Herald and P&O Cruises are calling for nominations for this year's Unsung Community Heroes series. Some of those nominated will feature in a series on people working voluntarily for the good of the community and five will be invited to join a P&O Cruises winter cruise. Scroll down the page to see how to enter or click here for the full terms and conditions.
KEY POINTS:
When George and Veronica Nathan-Patuawa take off on their Pacific cruise in June it will not only be a reward for the heroic voluntary work they have done for their community but also their first honeymoon in 50 years of marriage.
The couple were winners of the Herald's 2008 Unsung Heroes series, which profiled more than 40 of New Zealand's most valued, and selfless volunteers over June and July.
Judges awarded six of these people a much-deserved holiday with P&O Cruises, and most will cruise to the Pacific Islands this winter.
Yesterday the winners were guests at a lunch on board the Pacific Sun, berthed at Queens Wharf, to launch the 2009 Unsung Heroes series.
Robert Limb, vice-chancellor of Volunteering Auckland, a body representing around 300 community groups in Auckland, said he hoped to see another wave of recognition for community volunteers this year.
The economic downturn has made it more difficult for voluntary organisations to raise funds and to find volunteers.
But a sense of community cohesion is very important in recessionary times and active groups of volunteers create that spirit.
"In these times we notice our volunteers more, we need them more, so it is important that we recognise them more," he said.
Mr and Mrs Nathan-Patuawa said their award was as much a recognition of their Northland community as it was of their efforts - Herald newspaper clippings take pride of a place in the local store and community offices.
"That's what's important, it's making the community feel good," said Mrs Nathan-Patuawa.
She said the phone was ringing off the hook from people all over the country who had read the story and people they had never met started stopping them in the street after their story ran in July last year.
Omamari Beach, north of Dargaville, had polluted streams, eroded dunes, little dune vegetation and no community vegetable garden until the Nathan-Patuawa's set up a community trust in 1997, giving their time and chunks of their own pensions to reversing those issues.
But the couple, who both turn 70 this year, are bashful about their Unsung Heroes reward - to them they are just "carrying on as usual".
The other winners were Richmond Road School's caretaker Tu Romia, the New Zealand Tamil Senior Citizens' Society's Thanga Mahasivam, Grandparents Raising Grandchildren founder and chairwoman Diane Vivian and paraplegic Jim Savage who is honoured for encouraging people with disabilities to get involved in sport.
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