5 October 2012

Civic Honour recipients revealed

Six Palmerston North residents are to receive a Civic Honour for their outstanding and innovative voluntary service to others in the community.

“We have some amazing volunteers in our City, and Civic Honour Awards is an opportunity to celebrate the incredible work that these residents do in our community,” Mayor Jono Naylor said.

“These high level awards are given to those who have generally given hours of voluntary service over many years, purely for the benefit of others.”

Those awarded a Civic Honour in 2012 are:

· Anne A’Court: Anne has contributed more than 30 years of her life to selflessly supporting others in her community through active involvement in the following groups and organisations; Diabetes Manawatu Inc., Arthritis Manawatu, ‘Everyone Active Everyday’ and St Johns. She has, by various means helped to raise thousands of dollars for the benefit of others and is well deserving of this Civic Honour.

· Meriam Findlay: Meriam has been awarded a Civic Honour for her work with the Filipino Club, Street Van, the Disinformation Newspaper, The Ethnic Council of Manawatu and for her work with the Shepherd’s Rest Trust. In particular Meriam has shown many years of unrelenting support to new migrants to the City and has worked long hours with the Street Van Inc. to help those less fortunate than herself.

· Barry Gush: Barry has used his skill of being able to fundraise to the benefit of others over many years. He has been awarded a Civic Honour for his voluntary involvement with Arohanui Hospice, Bowls Manawatu and the Northern Bowling Club. Over the last 26 years Barry has been able to combine his love of Lawn Bowls with fundraising for Arohanui Hospice, raising in excess of $100,000 through tournaments and auctions.

· Margaret Gregory: A Civic Honour has been awarded to Margaret for her involvement with various Lions Groups and in particular her focus on Youth. Margaret’s leadership and her vision have been the driving force behind many successful projects. She is also applauded for her many years involvement with Camp Quality, giving freely of her time to ensure programmes were developed for all ages and that children were well cared for during their time at Camp.

· Claire Morris: Claire has been awarded a Civic Honour for her voluntary work over the last 20 years with the Palmerston North Stroke Foundation. She has worked tirelessly to ensure members of the Stroke affected community can live normal lives. She transports members to exercise facilities, helping them with their therapy and monitoring their progress, she organises social gatherings for members and where needed makes sure there are volunteers to help.

· Leith Rowe: Over the last 35 years Leith has contributed to the well-being of many members of the Palmerston North Returned Services Association (Inc). Her focus has always been the welfare of members and their families and with this in mind, has been awarded a Civic Honour. She has given freely of her time to be involved with the running of the PNRSA and to help organise fundraising whenever money was needed for a project.

Civic Honours are given to local individuals and are awarded every year in October with nominations opening in June.

The voluntary service must not be a professional one, or one that they undertake as part of their paid employment.

The awards will be presented at a ceremony to be held at the Convention Centre on Thursday 11 October at 5.30pm. Members of the public are welcome to attend the ceremony and show their support for these worthy volunteers.

ends

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