Volunteer of the Month

March 2022

Gemma Robinson

Gemma has been nominated by her fellow centre members at Maungaraki Playcentre in Lower Hutt.

She started Playcentre almost 9 years ago and has held a variety of office holder roles in that time including president, child planning officer and adult education officer.

She is currently secretary, fundraising officer, team lead on Monday session and a member of the employee committee.

She supports everyone in their office holdings and is a huge champion for parent-led education. She has had a range of office holdings over her last 9 years (in fact, I think she has done them ALL at some point) and is committed, engaged and enthusiastic about it all.

What Gemma doesn’t know about Playcentre and more specifically about our Playcentre can be written on the back of a postage stamp. She is passionate about child led play.

She does so much! She is the person responsible, as she has Playcentre Course 4 – so without her our sessions simply wouldn’t run. She turns up to every session with boundless energy, supporting each child and family with her passion and love of Playcentre.

She has ideas galore, kindness in bundles and she gives her time without hesitation. Running meetings, leading fundraisers, welcoming visitors with positivity and care and being a listening ear to all.

Recently she organised a fundraising raffle for our centre which raised $1,600 – which is essential to the running of our Playcentre.

If anyone deserves their efforts and love of Playcentre to be honoured, it is Gemma.

November 2021

Hayley Brown

Hayley has been nominated by her fellow centre members at Lynmore Playcentre in Rotorua. She is one of their longest members and below sums up what a beautiful person Hayley is and what an asset to the Playcentre village.

Helpful kaiako wahine
Accomplished the Early Childhood and Care Certificate in 8 months with 3 little tamariki
You leave a lasting impression on everyone that crosses your path
Lynmore Playcentre President in your 2nd year
Exhausts all avenues to ensure all sessions are constantly funded
Your a volunteer extraordinaire

Behind the scenes of operation, always filling the gaps and ticking boxes
Opens her home to support whānau
Warm soul, soft voice and always makes katoa feel welcomed, safe and that they belong
Ebullient when you sing waiata and play the ukulele you recently learnt to do alongside the tamariki
Never gives up and always finds a way to keep our centre flourishing into the future

Thank you Hayley for all you have done and for all that you do.

Your whakamana inspires our Playcentre village to keep paddling the waka together.

October 2021

Beverley Lindsay

Beverley has been nominated by her fellow centre members at Richmond (Invercargill) Playcentre for someone who is always the first to put her hand up.

“Beverley Is highly organised and a real go-getter! If she says she is going to do something… She will do it! Beverley is happy, bubbly and always has a smile on her face. The children love her dearly and are really sad when she can’t come to Playcentre”.

“As the president of Richmond Playcentre she has been my sounding board and my support buddy as we’ve navigated through some interesting times. She helped organise lots of little activities and “Covid kits” all the kids at Playcentre. Beverley always thinks of the kids… She is a champ!”.

September 2021

Christina Jeffrey

Christina has been nominated by her fellow centre members at Tikorangi Playcentre for her role as their president.

“Christina goes above and beyond in her role as well as picking up everyone else’s slack, taking on extra roles and jobs at the drop of a hat and is always the first to volunteer her and her husband’s time to anything Playcentre related. She has had a tough time with various personal things yet she still pours everything into Playcentre and turns up with a smile on her face, a warm heart and so much compassion and support for everyone else. She’s certainly one of those people that goes unrecognized for all their tireless effort because she does it so effortlessly and without complaint that most people really don’t know how much she really does and all the other stuff she has going on as well”.

“Tikorangi Playcentre would be lost without her and would very much lose the essence of Playcentre if she ever left”.

August 2021

Assami Hadley

Asami has been nominated by her fellow centre members at Awakeri Playcentre for her role as their Bicultural Officer.

“Year after year, Asami goes above and beyond to give us one of our annual highlights: our Matariki celebrations. This year, Asami brought us an amazing hangi, a collaborative natural Māori art piece, our tradition of planting garlic in our garden, we had waiata with the tamariki, we toasted marshmallows on the fire in the sandpit and had Matariki stories followed by a treasure hunt for the stars.

Asami has previously gone above and beyond to bring biculturalism into our centre, with visits and welcome into a local marae, organising kawakawa balm making workshops, and bringing other wonderful resource people into our centre on a regular basis. Asami’s endless enthusiasm, generosity, and passion for embracing New Zealand and Māori culture, while also sharing with us some of her Japanese roots, is treasured”.

July 2021

Hanna Phillpotts

Hana has been nominated by her fellow centre members at Woolston Playcentre for making the centre a home. “Hana spends countless hours conversing back and forth with our wave of new enquiries and works so hard to make sure they are welcome. She makes sure we all know who’s coming, puts out the little signs, spends time chatting with the families with such a humble and modest air about her; she makes our centre a home!” “Hana is always at the centre of any fundraiser and social gathering, sending out the messages far and wide to make them a roaring success, both digitally and through her connections with her family and beyond. She is the glue that holds us all together some days! She will make sure everyone is happy and will put herself at the bottom of the pile most of the time, sadly. Reading people is her best strength and we all love her for what she brings to the centre”. “She has a deep and genuine love of Woolston Playcentre, the tamariki and the feeling of community within, which, ironically, is largely her doing!”.

June 2021

Nic Smith

Nic has been nominated by her fellow centre members at Taradale Playcentre for her enthusiasm and commitment to fundraising and supporting her centre.

“This term we decided to start fundraising to replace our outdoor matting and Nic has gone above and beyond in organising an amazing raffle. She went door to door to businesses in our local community seeking donations of raffle prizes and was able to obtain some amazing products and services. She created signs advertising our raffle and has spent her Saturday mornings selling raffle tickets outside of our local pharmacy and promoting Playcentre.

Whenever we have a visitor, she always advertises our raffle and has mobilised our members to sell raffle tickets to their friends and family. We are well on our way to our fundraising target and this would not have been possible without the epic efforts of Nic”.

May 2021

Tegan Stevens

Tegan has been nominated by her fellow centre members at Lynmore Playcentre for managing work, young family, their sport, hobbies and activities on top of helping above and beyond at our centre. Her hand is ALWAYS going up to help out at our monthly meetings which she rarely misses even bringing her baby in her arms.

“She has been a member at our centre for 7 years now has and continues to make such a big contribution to our centre. Tegan recently was a huge part in helping with the pack up of centre ready for our refurbishment, she was back again putting many hours in at set up and only too happy to help. She has always taken on bigger roles in our centre managing herself and never fails to make sure all boxes are ticked. Over the past few years she organised a huge volume of enrolments and always wears her smile.

Each year Tegan project manages our annual Christmas party which is the best celebration for all! I remember her commenting how tearful with happiness it makes her seeing the joy on our tamariki faces during it. She is always looking at ways to fundraise for our centre with a photo fundraiser around the corner. When we do hold fundraisers she is there to help on the day without a doubt. She brings her 3 kids in tow knowing our fundraiser is for a great cause.

Tegan is so caring and thoughtful towards all members and especially our tamariki she knows how to get to their level and is always looking at ways to support their interests. Her activities continue to flood in helping to make our tamariki thrive in their play. She juggles 1000 things at a time yet is so calm and giving and always has time to listen”.

April 2021

Hayley Schellingerhout

Hayley has been nominated by her fellow centre members for being the backbone of their centre and the voice of positivity especially during all the lockdowns.

“At the start of 2020 Drury Playcentre dropped to only 4 families. Hayley and one other held the Playcentre qualifications so it fell on them to run the centre and organize the Playcentre Open Week event. All our hard work came to nothing as we entered the first lock down. When we reopened we were inundated with new members. Hayley and I worked hard as a team to make them feel welcome and create a sense of belonging. Hayley could always be found chatting to new mums and making everyone a cuppa!”

“During subsequent lock downs Hayley’s positivity, generosity and thoughtfulness saw her organize and distribute play packs to our Playcentre whānau. She is often the first person to open up the centre and the last to leave. She does all the stores and equipment shopping and helps out with grant applications as well picking important jobs when they need to be done (H&S checks etc).”

“When new babies are born, families are sick, and sadly when we have experienced tragic loss, Hayley has been there with hugs and meals/baking to support us. On top of this, she’s an amazing mum to three kids (2 still at Playcentre)!”