My Account
A life that involves a lot of international travel and wine tastings sounds indulgent – however, for Mandy Hebben of Orewa, it’s all about creating a balance between work and recreation. Mandy travels the world as a Strategic Development Manager with a medical equipment company, while at the same time she is always on the lookout for a good quality wine to add to her extensive cellar. The energetic 45-year-old has also helped to revitalise the Orewa Lions Club, organising events and making new connections. She spoke to Terry Moore about why a busy person should not hesitate to take on volunteer work.
Lions in Fiji heard about a young man who couldn’t get to high school because his wheelchair was broken and a repair was not possible or affordable for the family. The company I work for, medical suppliers Durable Medical Equipment, have ultra-light, high end wheelchairs that are constantly upgraded, making old models obsolete but still very usable. As a result, we’ve developed a project where the Lions in Nadi put me in touch with teenagers in Fiji who need new wheelchairs and me and my boss Andy will go over there to provide the equipment and set it up for them. It’s one of those great connections that can come about through volunteer work. I am also a Trustee for the Child Mobility Foundation, which is a part of Lions, and we provide mobility products for children who are unable to access these through normal funding channels. Recycling car batteries is one way that we raise funds for this initiative.
My job involves quite a lot of travel, and everywhere I go I manage to taste some wine and bring as much as I can back home – my bag always clinks with bottles. When I first started a wine cellar at home my husband Clive laughed and said that it wouldn’t last; that was 14 years ago and there are now more than 300 bottles in there, stored in order of age. Some have labels that read ‘It’s Mine’, as they are very precious! With the dream of one day having my own vineyard, I’m studying wine production and viticulture at Nelson Marlborough Institute of Technology, although wine making is a lot of hard work and I’m coming to the conclusion that it’s probably easier just to drink it. Adelaide, and South Australia in general, is my favourite wine spot in the world, and produces my favourite wine – I am a fan of big, robust reds. There is a romance about wine, and the more you learn about it and how dependent it is on weather and climate and craftsmanship, the more interesting it is. You hear some great stories when you go to tastings from people in the vineyards and you can’t get that from a bottle of gin. However, although it’s a fascinating topic, I’m no wine snob. Recently my daughter Danielle and I had a lovely Pinot Gris at a tasting and asked what food they recommended to go with it. We were told fish and chips on the beach with your feet in the sand was ideal – my rule is that if it tastes good to you, it is good. This year, we also bought a café/restaurant in Orewa, which Danielle runs, so we’ve been given a real focus – or perhaps an even better excuse – for our wine buying trips.
I am also a Rugby League fan, along with the rest of the family. We have had season tickets for the Warriors for many years. Cory first came to games as a bump, then in a front pack and when he was about five his team played at half time and he touched Stacey Jones’ hand as he ran onto the field – I didn’t think his hand was ever going to be washed again! I also support West Tigers and when travelling for work in Australia I try and catch games whenever I can – I have been lucky enough to go to a number of State of Origin Games and also two Grand Finals.
We used to come to Orewa for family holidays when we lived in West Auckland. We rented a place in Orewa and fell in love with the Coast. We bought a bach. Weekend stays turned into long weekends, then commuting to and from the bach to work. Eventually it made sense to move here, which we did when our son Cory left intermediate school four years ago. One of the first things I did was join the Orewa Lions. My dad was a Lion and I was looking for something with a strong community focus. I help out with Eave’s Bush once a month, work at the Paper Shed, help with preparations for the Ducky Derby, assist with organising a Jazz Concert and am part of the team for The Big Dig. People worry that volunteering takes up a lot of time, but with Lions you can give it as much or as little time as you have available. I am a pretty busy person and I find it fits in well – plus you get so much out of it. I wish more people would give it a go. There are international conventions, which are a great opportunity to travel – and fit in the odd wine tasting! Legislation and health and safety concerns have got in the way of the kind of hands-on work that Lions were known for years ago. Back then, a few blokes with a truck and some nails and timber could get stuck in and get something built for the community, such as a children’s playground, but that’s not possible now and it’s taken the spontaneity away. In my Dad’s day, you could see something that needed doing and just get in and do it, but now it’s likely that you’d have to spend at least a week filling in forms first. Organising The Big Dig is now a six-month process, although the event is run along the very same lines as it was when it first started more than 30 years ago.
I got involved with diabetes awareness work not long after joining Lions because they created a position, diabetes liaison coordinator for Lions in NZ and the Pacific Islands. This involves working with the community, health organisations and Lions Clubs to spread the word about diabetes, which is a hidden disease, despite being a massive problem. At the same time, Diabetes NZ was going through an amalgamation process and working more cohesively with its various branches, and I learned a lot by working with them. Lions have signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Diabetes NZ so we will work very closely with them on education and awareness campaigns. Through my work, I often felt like the ambulance at the bottom of the cliff because I was helping people who had to have amputations because of diabetes and therefore, became wheelchair bound. Part of wanting to take up the role of diabetes liaison coordinator was to move to the top of the cliff. It was a baptism of fire, learning about the magnitude of this problem – it’s scary and no-one talks about it. Yet we all know someone who has it: if there are 10 people in the room, two will have diabetes even if they don’t know it.
