Celebrating community success - Vince Cocurullo

Bonnie Rowson, originally from the Netherlands, has called NZ home for the past 40 years and received citizenship at the citizenship ceremony held by the Whangarei District council last week. Photo / Supplied

OPINION

Vince Cocurullo is the mayor of Whangārei.

When we move into winter, and we have cold, wet rainy days, it is not hard to fall into a slump of negativity, or even to miss seeing the positivity that surrounds us.

Last Friday we had the grand opportunity to reconvene to congratulate and welcome another group of new citizens to New Zealand. An emotional time for many, and one that our elected members take such pride in attending. Why reconvene? This citizenship ceremony was postponed from last month, due to the unforeseen infamous “falling tower” power cut! It is great to see so many of these individuals and their families attending this event. Thank you for choosing Whangārei as your home.

Speaking of welcoming new people, our council is proud to be part of the Welcoming Communities programme, and this month is celebrating the achievement of our Welcoming Communities stage one accreditation. This gives us the title of being a “Committed Welcoming Community”. We have been working closely with our multi-cultural and multi-ethnic partners and our community stakeholders to meet the accreditation standards, and we’re excited to be strengthening our relationships and networks to make Whangārei a friendly, safe and culturally diverse environment for all to enjoy.

You can read more about our Welcoming Communities programme on the council’s website https://wdc.govt.nz/WelcomingCommunities.

It has also been a month of celebrating our wider community. On Thursday July 18, I had the honour of presenting Chief Scouts Awards to Ryan Wilson, Levi Walker, Nathan Ras and Callan Dahlberg, all recipients of the Chief Scout Rimu Award, and Lucas Ras, recipient of the Cub Scout Rata Award. These are the highest awards you can earn as a Scout and a Cub.

To achieve the Chief Scout awards, these young people needed to complete an involved programme of steps, including skills progressions, many hours of community engagement and several “Better World” projects. These are shining examples of young leaders in our community, and I look forward to seeing great things from them in future.

Last week we also had several of our young people head to Wellington to be involved in a programme called Festival for the Future, and over the past month we have had Matariki celebrations around the region and celebrated our volunteers in Whangārei.

There are some big things coming up too, such as the Northland Business Awards, Bernina Fashion Awards, and the prestigious Civic Honours for 2024.

The Civic Honours are our council’s highest honour and recognise those who have given selflessly to our communities over their lifetime. This is an opportunity to celebrate our true community heroes, who often go quietly about their business without any expectation of recognition. In 2023, Civic Honours awardees were Beryl Wilkinson, Elizabeth Shepherd (Auntie Bess), Hilary Gittos and Robin Lieffering. I have no doubt our 2024 recipients will also set the standard with their contribution to the community well-being of Whangārei district.

You will often hear me talk about how our people are the heart and soul of our district. I firmly believe Northlanders are unique, and our community here in Whangārei is the most welcoming in New Zealand (and now we have the accreditation to prove it).

Keep up the great work Whangārei!