VOLUNTEER OF THE MONTH WINNER – JANUARY

 

Emilly was nominated by her sister Kate for the New Zealand Couriers Volunteer of The Month (VOM).  We 100% agree that she is very deserving of the award and are delighted to announce Emilly as our January winner. Congratulations Emilly!

Below is what Kate said in her nomination:

Emilly is my older sister and someone who has inspired myself and countless others to get involved in environmental volunteering in the community, through the unwavering passion, time and effort that she pours into volunteering and leading local environmental initiatives.

Since early 2015, Emilly has been a leader of the Takapuna Grammar school environmental committee where she regularly organises Takapuna beach clean-ups and native tree-plantings on school grounds.

I remember participating in one of the very first after school clean-ups where approximately 15 students showed up. Emilly continued to tirelessly promote and organise frequent clean-ups and the number has increased gradually to a group of devoted students who show up rain or shine, even including some teacher volunteers who are impressed by her enthusiasm and commitment to the environment.

Emilly’s current goal is to implement a new waste system at our school. This includes various brightly coloured 3-bin stations (recycling, landfill, compost) which will hopefully reduce the school’s amount of waste going to landfill by 50% by 2018 and change the attitudes of student and staff alike. This is a huge workload as it involves applying for funding, gaining approval from senior management, negotiating agreements with ground-staff, and general planning. She has already made great headway including completing a school-wide waste audit, and is dedicating many hours each week to this project, with a passionate team of co-leaders and volunteers.

Emilly often ferries to Motutapu and Motuihe Island to do nursery work, tree-planting and weed busting and has also been selected as a local representative at many regional/national environmental forums including MAD sustainability and Youth EnviroLeaders’ Forum, and has been invited to give speeches at environmental conferences and ceremonies, as a result of her outstanding volunteering and leadership.

Emilly is someone who leads by example and deserves to be recognised for her hard-work and dedication. She promotes the important message of sustainability amongst her peers and I am very proud to have such a warm-hearted global citizen as my role model and sister.

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