Tara Forde and Vinnies win 2010 regional Volunteer Youth Awards

May 29th
by Ron Sharp and David Armstrong

On Wednesday night, 27 May, Nelson Volunteer Centre held Volunteer Youth Awards ceremony in the New Hub in Nelson. There were awards for both Nelson and Tasman young people.

The big indivdual prize for Tasman went to Tara Forde (pictured right accepting her award), the young member of Motueka Community Board.

The award was made for the huge contribution she makes to Motueka with her dedicated work on a wide range of boards of community groups. The award also recognises her commitment to studying extramurally for her Masters Degree in Public Policy - some achievement, especially when we see her representing the Board at so many of our community meetings.

Tara says she attends board or committee meetings for between two and five groups a week on average, many of them working with youth, particularly in advocacy work and helping them to find a voice in the wider community.

"Being involved with the Community Board has challenged me as a person, and I've learnt a lot from working in the community," she says. "I want to encourage other young people to consider standing for the board too and to get amongst it. It's easy to be an armchair commentator but more fulfilling to be hands on."

The Tasman volunteer youth group award went to St Peter Chanel School's 'Young Vinnies', a group of nearly 20 pupils aged between 10 and 13 years who perform several charity tasks day in, day out, for people in Motueka not as fortunate as themselves. Three of the Vinnies were at last week's ceremony in Nelson to accept their award (see photo at left).

Their leader is Philippa Winch, who is the regional youth coordinator for the six Vinnies group in the Nelson-Tasman region. She travels once a week from Richmond to help the Motueka Vinnies carry out their volunteer works. "Their goal is to identify needs in the community and to meet those needs in whatever way they can," Philippa says.

The Vinnies were nominated for the awards by the Motueka Night Shelter, in appreciation for the work they have done for the shelter over the past three years, including raising money to supply basic living items we all take for granted such as toiletries, socks and food. Their recent fundraising efforts - a carwash at New World Supermarket in Motueka - raised funds for raincoats, pillow protectors and a big box of shoes.

Vinnies meet during their lunch hour every Thursday to carry out community projects to help those in need in the community. They have several sub-groups working on different projects. These include visiting elderly people in rest homes and the Jack Inglis Hospital, helping with the loading and distribution of firewood to those who cannot afford basic heating (see also this story), and running their own school community gardens, the produce from which they distribute. They also run an interesting project making paper bricks for fires.

Editor's note:
[Posted 18 June 2010]
Some weeks later it was brought to our attention that another award went Motueka's way - to Laura Meuller of Motueka High School. We reported on that at a later date here »

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