Volunteer Wellington is delighted to announce the winners of the ‘.nz Mahi Aroha Awards 2022’.


These awards recognise outstanding volunteers making a positive impact in the Greater Wellington community. The Honorable Minister for the Community & Voluntary Sector Priyanca Radhakrishnan spoke at the event about the importance of volunteering.
A quote from the Ministers speech: “Volunteering brings people together; it builds communities and creates a better society for everyone. Together, through volunteering, we are changing our communities for the better.”
This year, we had three categories, which were:

  • Volunteer of the Year – an outstanding volunteer active in their community
  • Team Governance – recognising great Boards of community organisations
  • Employee Volunteering Team – awarding businesses that are volunteering with community members

Nominations were judged by a panel of representatives from the Domain Name Commission (one of the event sponsors), Take 10 and a Volunteer Wellington Board member and facilitated by Dr Karen Smith of Victoria University.
The judges had a tough job shortlisting as the quality of the nominations was outstanding with some accompanied by letters of support. After hours of deliberation, they drew up a list of winners, runner ups and highly commended volunteers.


Details of the awards recipients were:

  • Volunteer of the Year winner – David Payton, Eat My Lunch
  • Volunteer of the Year runner up – Rachel Bird, IHC
  • Team Governance winner – Dwell Housing Trust
  • Team Governance runner up - Perinatal Anxiety & Depression Aotearoa
  • Employee Volunteering Team winner – The Wellington Company
  • Employee Volunteering Team runner up – Cricket Wellington
  • Employee Volunteering Team highly commended – Sue Joe of Hollywood Floral


All of these recipients were presented their awards by Wellington Mayor Andy Foster. The awards event was held at the KPMG offices in central Wellington on 22/06/22 and was well attended with guests representing the community, public and business sectors in the Wellington region.


We’d like to thank our sponsors InternetNZ and the Domain Name Commission for their generous support to make these awards happen and KPMG for hosting the event. And huge congratulations to all the award recipients!



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