She says organisations could not run without good people on the boards, and people don't realise how time consuming such positions are, nor how important they are.
As if to illustrate the point, after the Midweek interview, Judy had a Zoom meeting with other board members of Victim Support, one of her many volunteer positions.
When Sandra told her about the nomination and award, Judy says you start thinking: what is volunteering?
"It's different for everybody, isn't it? And my answer is, I do it because I enjoy it," she says.
"I know if you're volunteering for something, you can walk away from it if you're not enjoying it at that time. But I never have: I've always liked it."
She and the late Gary Reid started the Whanganui People's Centre in the 1990s, forming the advocacy service for people on low incomes and taking her place on its first board. It is still going strong and Judy is still involved.
"Look how it is today, it's just going ahead, and we've got a wonderful manager there now, [Sharon Semple] and she's doing a marvellous job."
She has a similar involvement with Volunteer Whanganui, helping set it up years ago. She was made a life member in recognition.
Well before both of those, she worked as a volunteer for the Budget Advisory Service in Whanganui, meeting with people and helping organise their household budgets.
"That was last century, as well," she says.
Judy also volunteered for Victim Support, an organisation for which she is still working, although she is now on the national board, and has been for a long time.
As if all that was not enough, Judy is also on the board of the Whanganui Learning Centre, and she was also with the Disability Resource Centre, an organisation run by the late Les Gilsenan.
"And I'm on the board of Whanganui Safe & Free."
Their target is sexual abuse, which they counter with advice, education and counselling.
Many people would have seen Judy assisting behind the counter at the Red Cross Bookshop, too, but she has also joined the raffle team, selling tickets for worthy organisations. She loves it.
"It's keeping active." But the really enjoyable aspect? "People."
In her working life she was employed in the hospital kitchen, but also trained as a Playcentre supervisor when she was young.
She says she has a lot of respect for all volunteers, and in particular those coming into the voluntary sector today as they have to have a whole new set of skills, much of it computer-based.
Fortunately, this volunteering veteran keeps good health, and she remembers something her friend, the late Chris Cresswell said: "Good health is not yours by right, you have to work at it."
If someone was thinking about taking up volunteering, Judy says she would tell them to go ahead and do it.
It's worked for her. "I feel I've got more to give."
