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Long-serving volunteers were honoured with a high tea.
30-year volunteer Maureen McQuarrie was presented with flowers by Warkworth Hospice Shop manager Liz Sanderson.
25-year volunteer Jenny Howlett with her long service certificate.
10-year volunteer Steve Reid with spiritual companionship volunteer Rev Iain Gow.
Hospice advisory board chair Stephanie Paxton-Penman with volunteer 25-year volunteer Marilyn Shepherd.
Volunteer Shona Pickup with volunteer service coordinator Lesley Ingham.
Volunteer Susan Turner with Warkworth Hospice Shop manager Liz Sanderson.
Around 30 Harbour Hospice volunteers serving in the Warkworth and Wellsford areas were honoured for their long service during a ceremony and afternoon tea at Tui House in Warkworth late last month.
The woman honoured for the most years of service was Maureen McQuarrie, who has volunteered at the Warkworth hospice shop for 30 years. Maureen was happy to be photographed but said she preferred not to comment on her service.
Meanwhile, Jenny Howlett was among five women honoured for 25 years of service. Jenny currently mans the Tui House reception desk every Tuesday and over the years has served by driving patients to appointments, helping out with support groups and visiting patients in their homes.
Jenny, along with hospice nurse Cath Bartlett, instigated the successful Homes Tours in 2002 a fundraising initiative whereby ticket holders get to see some of Mahurangi’s most interesting and attractive houses.
“Finding the homes was a lot of fun. We’d just drive around and knock on people’s doors,” Jenny said.
“I remember one house we went to in Matakana. The owners opened their front door and said, ‘Hello, we’ve been expecting you’. Word had got out, you see.”
Jenny said she was inspired to volunteer for hospice after working as a receptionist for an Auckland doctor who specialised in palliative care.
Speaking at the ceremony, volunteer services coordinator Lesley Ingham said she counted herself lucky to live in a community where people really cared about their neighbours.
She said the proof of volunteers’ generosity came last year during the Covid lockdowns.
“We have asked you at various times to stay home, work more, work less, wash your hands, wear masks and give more. And we have been humbled and delighted by your response,” she said.
Chair of the Harbour Hospice advisory board Stephanie Paxton-Penman was equally effusive saying without its volunteers, Hospice could do nothing.
She added that the volunteer-run Hospice Shops not only raised much needed funds for Hospice, they also were a valuable resource for the rest of the community – particularly those who were struggling.
“What you give doesn’t just stay within our hospice community, it reaches all of those in our community who have need,” she said.
Harbour Hospice’s total volunteer force numbers almost 1400. In addition to serving in shops, they assist with day programmes, organise fundraisers, drive patients to appointments and staff reception desks.
Long Service Awards List
30 years: Maureen McQuarrie; 25 years: Fay Illingworth, Jenny Howlett, Jocelyn Edwards, Joy Greenwood, Marilyn Shepherd; 20 years: Pam Eede, Maxine Rapson, 15 years: Karen Letica, Madalene Aitken; 10 years: Steve Reid, Anna Bland, Caroline Lane, Dawn Heywood; 5 years: Kay Tipling-Rathe, Evelyn Brown, Julie Mitchell, Dianne Thompson, Ruth Eyres, Marcia Browne, Frances Cooper, Anne Cauty, Jillian Barton, Lynn Ward, Jillian Brookes, Carolynne Andrew, Trish Levet, Juliet Andrews, Susan Lewis, Colleen Gray.
Scholarship launched for volunteers
An annual scholarship to further educate and train patient-facing volunteers has been launched in memory of a dedicated North Shore volunteer who gave 29 years of her time to Hospice.
The Jan Vaughan Scholarship was set up by the Vaughan family to acknowledge Jan’s commitment and passion to volunteering, and further extend the skills of those working alongside hospice patients in the community.
Jan died last year amid Covid-19 lockdowns, which proved difficult for the family who weren’t able to hold a funeral.
Her daughter Debbie said that when they emerged from their grief, they started to think about how best they could honour Jan’s memory. T
he Jan Vaughan Scholarship will be available to Harbour Hospice volunteers working in patient-facing roles who identify a suitable training opportunity.
