Top Volunteers Rocked Dunedin at National Awards

Top Volunteers Rocked Dunedin at National Awards

Legacy of exemplar welfare fund will saw Ashburton well-represented

The district’s rural fire fighters represented Ashburton’s volunteer community in Dunedin this weekend.

The 2015 Trustpower National Community Awards was held over the weekend (March 18-20) and Ashburton District Combined Rural Fire Force Units representative Brian Pitt presented on the newly established welfare fund – the first of its kind in the county.

He and fellow volunteer Greg Bruce took the Ashburton District Combined Rural Fire Force Units’ community project head to head with the country’s best and brightest volunteer groups and projects on a national stage of friendly competition. Deputy Mayor Darryl Nelson was also on hand to support the team over the weekend.

The Ashburton District Combined Rural Fire Force Units came out on top at the Trustpower Ashburton District Community Awards last year, beating out more than 20 of other local voluntary organisations for their efforts to protect the district from natural disaster and emergencies, while caring for their own too.

Trustpower community relations representative Arielle Monk says although the Ashburton group did not come away as award recipients, the work completed by the rural fire forces shouldn’t be forgotten or discounted.

“I was very proud to see the Bryan and Greg on stage, as a group from a region I work in,” Monk said.

“The story of the rural firies needs to be told. They believe they are the first rural volunteer fire force in the entire country to establish a welfare fund for their members. Although they do a great job 365 days a year protecting their patch of Canterbury from flame, this welfare fund is what struck judges and the audience as super special.

“Greg and Bryan definitely love to joke about and are classic Kiwi blokes – underneath all that there are huge hearts, which is what drove the welfare fund getting off the ground in the first place,” she said.

“In this job, one can get to know communities quite well, and I am so glad we were able to work with the Ashburton District Combined Rural Fire Force Units. Greg and Bruce have done their teams proud.”

The national competition brought together 25 groups from across 27 New Zealand districts and the Wellington region – all were Supreme Winners of last year’s Trustpower Community Awards, a programme run in partnership with local councils.

The Awards were announced on Saturday evening (19 March) at the 2015 Trustpower National Community Awards Dinner, held at the Dunedin Town Hall. The West Otago Health Trust, representing the Clutha District, was named Supreme and Youth in Emergency YES, a group representing Rotorua Lakes District, was named Runner-Up.

A brand new award was also announced and presented to the Murupara Youth Leadership Projects Team, from the Whakatane District, for being identified as a group with strong potential to grow. The award is appropriately named Whetū Mātaiata, which means ‘morning star’.

In between a weekend of sight-seeing and networking, the Ashburton volunteers gave an eight minute presentation on what the group has achieved and tried to convince a panel of independent judges they deserve the title of 2015’s Trustpower National Community Award Supreme Winner. The groups were judged on their presentations, along with a 1,000 word summary of the organisation, by their peers and a panel of independent judges.

This year on the judging panel the Trustpower community relations team hosted TVNZ’s Good Sorts presenter Hadyn Jones and Minister for the Community and Voluntary Sector, Honourable Jo Goodhew.

Meanwhile, entries are now being taken for the 2016 Trustpower Ashburton District Community Awards, with just two weeks to go before closing. Anyone can enter a group and all voluntary groups and not-for-profit organisations are eligible. Entries close on Friday April 8.

ENDS

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