Wellington

 

 

Adalina Tohill of Porirua

Adalina Tohill has given many years of voluntary service to the community. For the last 10 years she has volunteered with the Porirua Citizens Advice Bureau and over the past seven years volunteered at the Redwood Club in Tawa, which is a day care centre for people suffering from Alzheimer’s disease. Adalina is also a member of Red Cross Porirua and Friends of Maara Roa. Outside of these commitments Adalina also works as a rights advocate at the Wellington People’s Centre, where she constantly provides aid to people in need.


Colin Ryder of Johnsonville

Colin Ryder has lived a life dedicated to New Zealand’s natural beauty and has spent over 20 years working with environmental organisations such as Forest & Bird. Specifically Colin has helped eradicate mice on Mana Island and transfer species onto the island. He has chaired the South Coast Marine Reserve Coalition which established the Taputeranga marine reserve in 2008 and assisted the Department of Conservation in establishing an environmental group on Chatham Islands among many other achievements.

Dean Gifford of Wellington

Dean Gifford has been helping kids both in New Zealand and overseas for the past six years - as well as holding down a job as a front-line police officer. The Wellington-based senior constable has been sending shipments of toys, clothing, medical supplies and other donations to the Solomon Islands since 2004 and has sent over 5 ½ tonnes of books, toys and medical supplies to the Islands. Dean was diagnosed with a brain tumour in 2006 and while in hospital for chemotherapy, he often visited the children's cancer ward and befriended some of the young patients. This spurred him on to organise visits for the youngsters by the armed defenders squad, the police national dive squad, the Fire Service, members of the All Blacks as well as free helicopter rides and a visit to Weta Studios.  He has made a huge impact to lives of many young people.


Helena Nunn of Wellington

23 year old Helena is a person who inspires others to both challenge themselves and make time for the community. On average she spends over 20 hours a week volunteering her time to community organisations while maintaining her law studies at Victoria University. She was the driving force behind the establishment of the Wellington Community Justice Project after recognising that there were a large number of Wellington law students who wished to volunteer their services to help the wider community. Helena is also a volunteer at Women’s Refuge, where she has coordinated initiatives to raise awareness about the refuge, such as the Wellington Annual Appeal. She also volunteers at Arise Church with their Community Outreach team and as a Youth Group Leader.


Wayne Poutua of Porirua

Wayne is using his life experiences as an ex gang member to make a difference in the lives of young people in Porirua. He has founded the Streets Ahead 237 programme, which focuses on reducing gang recruitment and youth offending. The programme has successfully moved 70 people into education, employment and other training areas, who otherwise would be involved in crime. Wayne has also been involved with health programmes and as a keynote speaker for issues relating to youth at risk.

Pam Fuller of Kelburn

Pam Fuller has dedicated more than 45 years to community work.  She is a Life Member of the Wellington Playcentre Association and a Life Member of the New Zealand Association for Psychological Type. She has been heavily involved with Wellington’s Ecotourism attraction, ZEALANDIA since its inception and has played a key role in recruiting, training and mentoring ZEALANDIA’s Volunteer Guides.

Pam’s four decades of community work have seen her involved with many groups, committees and organisations including the Wellington Education Board, Mana Board of Governors, Wellington Teachers College Council, Camp Elsdon Board, WEB Recruitment and Selection Committee for Teachers College Trainees, Tawa College Board of Governors, the Environmental Grants Committee, Plunket,  PTA’s and School Committees, the Society for Research on Women andthe New Horizons for Women Trust(Inc).

She has also been a Sunday school teacher, helper at the Tawa College Canteen, Secretary to the Wellington Bible Class Union, a member of her local Young Wives, organised Parish Camps & Lunches and was a Vestry and building committee member during the restoration of St Peter’s, Wellington in the early 1990’s. She was also a Cub Leader for close to 20 years. Pam’s current interests and activities include home and family but every Wednesday morning she takes time out from her full schedule to care for an elderly friend.

Jacinta Kreft of Wellington

Jacinta Kreft is a coordinator for Challenge for Change, a mentoring programme which pairs 9 to 13 year old children with adult mentors and also supports their families and parents.
She relishes every opportunity to make a difference and face head on the challenges of working with problem children who have poor social skills, low academic results or records of petty theft. Jacinta deals with children with depression, ADHD and abusive backgrounds and does everything she can to make an impact and achieve positive results to make a real difference to their lives. 



Natalie & Glenn Joyce of Newlands

Natalie and Glenn Joyce run the House of Grace - a place of refuge and support for teenage mums. The House of Grace is not an institution; it's a family living together with Natalie and Glen playing the important role of Mum and Dad to many in need. Natalie and Glenn provide a caring, nurturing environment in which teens can have their physical, emotional and spiritual needs met; a place where they receive love and acceptance. It is their hope that the teens will grow in their confidence and ability during their time at The House of Grace. The homenot only provides accommodation but also has a number of programmes that help residents develop the skills they need to parent confidently and have healthy, well-cared-for newborn babies. This includes a life skills programme that teaches the basics of home management, budgeting, housekeeping, parenting skills, education, involvement with medical professionals and attendance at antenatal classes. They have an educational programme that encourages residents to continue with their studies and they also run counselling programmes to help residents mend broken or strained relationships with family and friends.


Nathan Smith of Wellington

Nathan is a passionate, tireless volunteer in the refugee community in Wellington. He supports the efforts of formal refugee organisations, such as Refugee Services New Zealand and Change makers Refugee Forum, which also leads him to help individual refugees directly. Nathan volunteers his time and efforts in the following ways: Refugee Services NZ call on Nathan to assist in a variety of ways, from sourcing furniture for newly arrived refugees, delivering furniture to refugees, repairing furniture and a myriad of other tasks. Nathan acts as an ‘event assistant’ to Refugee Services and directly to refugee groups. In 2009 Nathan established a holiday programme for refugee children. The week long programme is run during school holidays and brings together refugee children from various communities in an effort to help them integrate into New Zealand through learning, having fun and meeting new friends. Nathan recently arranged a daytrip to Mount Ruapehu for around 20 – 30 refugee children, most of whom had never seen snow before. Nathan is also involved in an initiative in which young New Zealanders assist refugee children with reading, writing and homework. Through his work Nathan establishes personal relationships with refugees themselves, who call on him from time to time when they need a helping hand; it’s a call which he never fails to answer.