VOLUNTEERS have been recognised for their work in the Mid North Coast Volunteer of the Year awards held at Panthers Port Macquarie.
Ann Woodbury and Keith Anderson won the Senior Volunteer of the Year and Individual Volunteer of the Year category respectively.
Ann has been volunteering with the RSPCA in Port Macquarie for 12 years, assisting in all areas of the organisation including cleaning kennels and cat cages, fostering dogs in a home environment, assisting with micro-chipping, administration and archiving as well as fundraising events.
Keith is a volunteer at Cancer Council NSW, assisting in a range of programs and is always willing to contribute, even when his own health is not the best.
Nominees and category winners were presented with awards by Award Ambassador Paula Duncan AM, Port Macquarie MP Leslie Williams, Lyne MP David Gillespie and deputy mayor Adam Roberts.
The awards were established by the Centre for Volunteering in 2007 to recognise the efforts of NSW volunteers and promote the importance of volunteering to the community.
More than two million individual volunteers give more than 240 million work hours each year in NSW contributing an extraordinary $5 billion to the state’s economy.
Mrs Williams thanked the volunteers on behalf of the community.
“Our community is far richer because of them and the least we can do is make an effort to recognise and celebrate their priceless contribution,” she said.
“Every day in this community I see volunteers giving their time and efforts to make the Port Macquarie electorate a better place – in our emergency services, our schools, our sports clubs, our hospitals and our parks.
“They don’t expect anything in return, but we as a community can make the effort to recognise and celebrate their priceless contributions.”
Winners of the state-wide NSW Volunteers Awards will be announced at a ceremony in Sydney on 5 December.
