These are just four of the nine impressive recipients who received their Civic Award last week at a ceremony held at FMG Stadium Waikato.
The recipients are: Vinod Bhika, Lauren Kerr-Bell, Gemma Major, Thomas Nabbs, Tony Marchioni, Margaret Stannard, Warren Turnwald, Annie Williams and Roy Wilson.
Chairman of the Civic Honours Committee, councillor Martin Gallagher, says it's no easy task selecting individuals for the awards.
"We're also aware that recipients can only represent the tip of the iceberg when it comes to Hamiltonians doing great things for others in our community," he says.
"Each of these nine people have contributed to their city, its people and their future in their own unique way. Their efforts are ensuring that those who need practical and emotional support, friendship, life skills, employment skills – or just a listening ear – get what they need."
Together, each ceremony's award recipients represent a contribution of thousands of hours of service to the city through their respective causes, something Hamilton mayor Paula Southgate is acutely aware of.
"Our volunteers are involved in real passion projects and much of their work is under the radar. They simply get on with it, quietly and without fuss. It's not about accolades, it's about doing the right thing to make their community and our city a better place," Southgate said.
"That's a wonderful, wonderful thing and I am extremely grateful to live in a city that values and honours people whose priority in life is to do good, on behalf of others. I thank them for that."
The Civic Awards recognise substantial service of a voluntary nature or beyond normal employment benefiting the city of Hamilton and its people. The recipients were selected by a panel consisting of Gallagher, Southgate, Mark Bunting, Ryan Hamilton, Kesh Naidoo-Rauf and Māngai Māori Olly Te Ua and Te Pora Thompson-Evans.
Civic Award recipients
Vinod Bhika: Well-known throughout the Frankton community, Vinod has become the first 'port of call' for people there since he took over management of its markets in 1989. He also welcomes in every new business, offering friendship and support, helping them and the community willingly: often in his own time.
Vinod is often affectionately called 'the Mayor of Frankton', in recognition of his passion and enthusiasm for this unique Hamilton village suburb. His other more formal roles have included president of the Frankton Business Association and chairman of the Hamilton-400 Community Board.
His work with the Cancer Society's Youth Ambassador Programme has also seen Vinod raising awareness and funds for the Cancer Society Lions Lodge and the overall organisation.
Lauren Kerr-Bell: Lauren is an arts advocate, passionate creative, event organiser and collaborator. She has contributed a huge amount to the local creative community, mainly to the music scene. Here, Lauren has had a particularly huge impact on the vibrancy, sense of community, and the upskilling and capability development of a huge number of young creative people. She's on the Hamilton Live Music Trust, runs the Waikato Music Expo, and supports groups like The Volume Collective and the Hamilton Fringe.
Over time, Lauren has built up an enviable level of music industry knowledge, which she willingly shares over and over, often setting aspiring musicians on the best path to secure funding or performance opportunities.
Gemma Major: Gemma is the co-founder and CEO of Seed Waikato, an award-winning, registered charity that provides experiences and opportunities for the Waikato region's young people to connect and grow. Previously with Momentum Waikato, Gemma is passionate about the difference that philanthropic giving can create in our communities and sits on the board of Philanthropy New Zealand as well as being a Youth Advisor for the organisation.
Through her networks and strong drive, Gemma was also a driving force behind a submission in 2018 to the New Zealand Government's Mental Health Inquiry, alongside other community partners. This submission brought together the voices and lived experiences of over 100 people in the Waikato community.
Thomas Nabbs: Thomas has positively transformed the lives of hundreds of disadvantaged youth and inspired thousands more teenagers, by founding a not-for-profit organisation known locally as The Water Boy. The Water Boy's sole purpose is to create stronger people and communities by helping youth overcome barriers and create personal development opportunities to help rangatahi (youth) flourish.
Thomas founded Te Tamawai Charitable Trust (aka The Water Boy) in 2015 to help Kiwis unable to participate in sport, through no fault of their own. The Water Boy connects business sponsors with people, mostly children, to help them overcome barriers related to finance, family dysfunction, disability, family violence, sexuality, age, and more. The Water Boy has mentored and supported over 100 children to participate in sport, and that number is expected to double within the next year.
Tony Marchioni: Alongside supporting and remembering our war veterans from WWI and WWII, it's also important to consider those who represented New Zealand in smaller, more recent conflicts. Tony's efforts to honour his lost brother's memory is a shining example of this.
On August 25, 1951, Tony's older brother, Able Seaman Robert Marchioni, was killed in the Korean War while taking part in a raid behind enemy lines. Despite valiant efforts from members of the assault party from HMNZS Rotoiti, AB Marchioni's body was never recovered. He was the only Royal New Zealand Navy battle fatality during the Korean War, and was awarded a Korea Medal, a United Nations Korea Medal and a New Zealand Memorial Cross.
Tony always makes sure local veterans receive a dignified funeral complete with honour guards at the service and a bugler to perform The Last Post.
Margaret Stannard: Nominated for her award by the Rotary Club of Hamilton East, Margaret has supported St John, Kiwiwatch, NZ Police, the Waikato/BOP and the NZ Blind Bowls associations and her local bowling club in Beerescourt. They comment that Margaret lives her life helping others who are less fortunate than herself, and doing something for others for no reward.
Margaret joined St John in 1983, was made a member in 1994, so far completing 37 years active service, also becoming a Friends of the Emergency Dept (FED) Support Team Leader at Waikato Hospital and a Health Shuttle assistant in 2014, with a few more roles as well. Overall her volunteering for St John represents thousands of hours.
As a member of Kiwiwatch since 2006, she's been the eyes and ear of the police, patrolling local streets, sitting in her car on Friday and Saturday evenings and reporting back via a supplied police radio, often until 2am.
Warren Turnwald: The two organisations Warren is passionate about are the Anglican Church in the Waikato and Scouts NZ.
Appointed a lay minister in 2003, now-retired Warren has been volunteering his administrative and financial skills for over 50 years to the Church and continues to do so, to ensure the Waikato Cathedral Church of St Peter in Hamilton runs smoothly. Church officials describe him as "a master of fine detail". His leadership skills have also come to the fore during this time, through his cathedral/vestry and diocesan roles and through his participation in a variety of formal cathedral services.
Over this same time period, Warren has made an immense contribution on all levels to the Scouting community in New Zealand, including running annual Jamborees over many years and gaining many awards in recognition of this from Scouts NZ. He initiated and set up the first National Venturer Caving School for Scouts NZ (an annual event held at Waitomo) and for 43 years has attended every caving school held (except for during the Covid-19 lockdown in 2020).
Roy Wilson: Roy has spent the last 23 years working solely in the Supported Employment field, including project work and research. He has also been contributing to Hamilton and the surrounding Waikato by setting up Career Moves (a supported employment agency) in June 2000.
Roy has been steadfastly working to empower differently abled people to take their place in the workforce, giving many people and their whanau families hope and educating potential employers about the value differently abled people can bring into the workforce.
Roy has been instrumental in the work of Advisors for Supported Employment in New Zealand (ASENZ), and the formation of the New Zealand Disability Support Network (NZDSN). Previously a chair of ASENZ, Roy received their leadership award in 2004 and was acknowledged as an inaugural 'Sage' in 2007.
He is also a member of the NZDSN Board, receiving their leadership/long service award and in 2014, their excellence in Supported Employment Practice award.
Annie Williams: Annie Williams is a wahine toa caring for Hamilton communities from her humble garage and beyond.
For many years, Annie used to feed her Enderley community from the back of her car – before she realised a better solution would be to have people come to her – and that's when Annie's Corner was born. Plenty of volunteers familiar with her earlier efforts signed up to help – some had been her 'customers' in the past – and it didn't take long before the service expanded to cater for the wider community in Hamilton.
Having brought up nine children, Annie knows a thing or two about feeding a crowd. She started out driving around handing out food to strangers, such as homeless people living on the streets.
"A lot of those people were my own people," she says. Then she discovered a Hamilton-based 'food rescue' organisation called Kaivolution, which collects food going to waste and gives it to people in need.
Annie visits Kaivolution every day to gather supplies then puts out the food the next day in her garage from 9am – everything is free.
