“If we educate a māmā, we educate a family. Our Rotorua social services have been pressured for years, and I want to be part of a solution, not part of a problem.”
She chose Rotary as her vehicle to make a difference.
“I was privileged in 2005 to attend the Rotary International Centennial Conference in Chicago, which is the home of Rotary.
“I experienced the enormity and the value of that organisation. That inspired me to continue the work that we started in October 1998.”
She was a charter member of Rotary Rotorua Sunrise and became the first female president of the five Rotary clubs in Rotorua, and then an assistant governor for three years within Rotary District 9930, covering 53 Central North Island clubs.
“She loves helping people,” husband Chris Bell said. “She loves knowing that what she does, does make a difference for people and organisations in Rotorua.”
Bell was a founder and regional co-ordinator for 16 years of Rotorua Special Olympics, an international sports training programme for 60 people with intellectual disabilities.
She created “Magic Moments”, providing Christmas gifts to 55 families nominated by community organisations, sourcing food and gifts from local and national businesses for 15 years.
As regional co-ordinator for the Young Enterprise Scheme 2010 to 2011, Bell delivered business programmes in secondary schools before her involvement in the Rotorua Youth Centre, including organising Job Speed Meets - connecting employers to create youth employment opportunities.
For 20 years, she has supported young people transitioning from education to employment, including partnering with lnzone Experience World of Work Kiosks to fund technology into six secondary schools and the annual Rotorua Careers Expo.
Bell initiated the international youth mentoring programme Big Brothers, Big Sisters in Rotorua.
She also worked with local restaurant owners to create the Ronald McDonald Family Retreat Supper Club, an annual fundraiser to provide holiday accommodation for families with a terminally ill family member, which has amassed $1.7 million over 15 years.
“My aspiration is that we can create a collaborative collective of social service organisations in Rotorua so that we can leverage the resources that we’ve got here to get better outcomes,” Bell said of her future goals.
“The connections are already there, however maybe previous funding models have required organisations to be quite siloed, whereas now we are needing a community-based approach. That collective collaboration means we can share people resources as well as financial resources and grow the pie bigger, so everyone gets a bigger slice.
“That would weave a safety net for the most vulnerable families and children.”
