Q: What is your favourite New Zealand holiday destination? Wainuiomata Spirit Awards now open

By Frank Neill

Nominations for the Wainuiomata Spirit Awards are now open.

These awards are presented each year by the Wainuiomata Community Board to recognise people who have given outstanding voluntary service in the valley’s community.

Nominations close on 1 August 2023.

Nomination forms are available at the Wainuiomata Community Hub and can also be requested by email to the community board’s Chair Te Awa Puketapu at TeAwa. Puketapu@huttcity.govt.nz.

The 2023 awards will be presented

Celebrating

Hills NZ hosted a very special Samoan Creative Night at the Wainuiomata Community Centre on Friday 2 June.

Between 150 and 200 people attended the event.

“We had live music, lots of at an awards night on Wednesday 23 August at 5.30pm.

There was no Wainuiomata Spirit Awards presentation last year.

The last time these awards were presented was in 2021.

Sixteen people were nominated in 2021, and three awards were presented.

Ten-year-old Trey Zell was one of the winners.

Trey created his own business using scrap material and a sewing machine to upcycle scrap materials into scrunches, headbands, phone cases and phone pillows.

He marketed them online and funds raised were donated to several charities, including St John Youth.

Noeline Angus was rewarded for her years of effort cleaning tonnes of rubbish from the Wainuiomata coast, particularly at the Turakirae Head seal colony.

Fish hooks, hundreds of shoes, 48 tyres and 15 crayfish pots are just some of the rubbish Noeline had removed from near the seal colony. The third 2021 recipient was Dallas Serj, the founder and Chair of the Youth Service Union. Dallas led youth initiatives with a particular emphasis on mental health and used his own funds to help many people in the community.