NEWS RELEASE
7 September 2007

Wellington Airport community awards announced

Five outstanding Wellington organisations and their volunteers were honoured last night at the 2007 Wellington Airport Regional Community Awards.

The awards, which acknowledge the contribution of voluntary and non-profit organisations and their volunteers, were presented by Mayor Kerry Prendergast at a ceremony in the Council Chamber.

The following community organisations have won $500 and the overall winner will go forward to the regional finals later in the year. They are: Karori Wildlife Sanctuary Trust (Heritage and Environment and Overall Winner); Sport Wellington Region for the Vector Wellington Round the Bays (Sport and Leisure); Wellington Somali Council (Education and Child/Youth Development); Asian Events Trust for the Chinese New Year Festival (Arts and Culture) and Wellington Hospitals and Health Foundation (Health and Wellbeing).

Mayor Prendergast says the calibre of entries was extremely high and choosing the winners was, as always, a difficult task.

“We know there are thousands of wonderful voluntary organisations and volunteers working behind the scenes to ensure the citizens of Wellington have access to the best possible range and quality of community and other services, attractions and events. And they are all winners in our books. We know a lot of organisations couldn’t survive without the commitment and dedication of their volunteer workforce. These awards are just a small way of saying thank you to our volunteer community.”

Mayor Prendergast says the Karori Wildlife Sanctuary Trust is very deserving of the overall award.

“The Sanctuary is a remarkable example of a vision coming to life and a lot of hard work, determination, dedication, commitment and passion by the Sanctuary Trust and its volunteers. It is a fantastic city asset that looks set to become one of the world’s leading environmental tourist attractions.”

The awards were judged by Wellington City Council, The Community Trust of Wellington and Wellington International Airport. Criteria included volunteer input, innovation, effectiveness of activities and overall impact on the local area.

The focus of the awards is to create awareness of the voluntary work that takes place around Wellington and to recognise and reward the valuable contributions made by volunteers and their organisations.

“Statistics New Zealand recently released a report which shows there are 97,000 non-profit institutions with over one million volunteers whose work is valued at $3.3 billion. These impressive figures show the value of volunteers to our communities,” Mayor Prendergast says.

Wellington City Council news releases are also available daily as Web Alerts through the Council's website, www.Wellington.govt.nz . To subscribe, select the Web Alerts icon on the home page.

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