The "life force" of Tauranga's community, its volunteers, were honoured at the Eves Volunteer Excellence Awards today.
"Without you, it would be a far poorer place to live, thanks for enriching our lives," Tauranga City councillor Catherine Stewart told the finalists before announcing the winner of the Volunteer of the Year award.
Finalists and community leaders gathered at Classic Flyers Museum for the annual awards run by Volunteer Western Bay.
Homes of Hope volunteer and "mister fix it" Laurie Harnett was named Volunteer of the Year, with Cr Stewart describing him as an amazing and humble person who could think outside the square and fix anything.
She recalled the time he and another volunteer rigged up an ingenious contraption to shift a garden shed, thereafter earning the nicknames Barney and Fred after the Flintstones characters.