Volunteers Get Thank You Picnic

On Sunday (4 December) many of our volunteers get to put their feet up and have something done for them for a change.

About 240 volunteers in the district will be attending a picnic in their honour.

Mayor Harry Duynhoven says the picnic is a small but heartfelt gesture of appreciation from the Council and Volunteering New Plymouth (VNP) for all the hours the volunteers have put in throughout the year.

“We have volunteers on sports fields, in hospitals and hospice, at community events, in community groups, and helping keep our public areas clean and safe,” says the Mayor.

“Volunteers are everywhere, and our community wouldn’t operate half as well without them.”

Mayor Harry will be taking a turn as chef at the picnic, along with Taranaki Daily News Editor Roy Pilott, Taranaki Hospice Chief Executive Kevin Nielsen, Inspector Blair Telford and MP Jonathan Young, among others.

VNP Coordinator Heather Dodunski says the volunteers appreciate the acknowledgement of their work.

“They also like having the chance to get together with other volunteers they may not know, who work in areas of the community they aren’t involved with,” she says.

5 December is International Volunteer Day, which was designated by the United Nations in 1985.