2012 Kiwibank Local Heroes Medal Recipients

Canterbury & South Canterbury

Medal presentation photos can be viewed here. Password is LHCAN2012

His Worship the Mayor Bob Parker, Christchurch

Mayor Parker was nominated for going above and beyond his roll of duty following the Christchurch earthquakes.  Several nominations were received from Mayor Parker for his leadership of the city, his calm demeanour despite his own family being affected by the events and unwavering determination to keep going and bolster the community spirit.

Sam Johnson, Christchurch
WINNER COCA COLA AMATIL YOUNG NEW ZEALANDER OF THE YEAR 2012

The founder and leader of the Student Volunteer Army in Christchurch. Sam utilized social networking skills to pull together a volunteer army of thousands of students to help out the shaken Christchurch community after both the September 2010 and February 2011 earthquakes. He created a Facebook page that brought the students, carrying shovels and wearing gumboots, onto the streets of Christchurch to help with the earthquake cleanup. Sam then worked with local authorities coordinating the students relief effort organising teams and equipment to help cleanup those areas most affected by the quake damage. The SVA has grown to have a support base of over 26,000 people and continues to provide a student volunteering community for Christchurch, both Earthquake related and unrelated. Sam was also able to transfer his skills to help Japan after their devastating tsunami and earthquake, where he worked with Japanese students to help them set up a similar scheme. Sam’s ability to pull together resources and lead a team of volunteers inspired glowing recommendations from across the globe and contributed to a more positive image of students.

Nick Herbert, Christchurch

Nick was instrumental in locating his now wife Stacey Herbert and five others who were trapped in The Press building after the February quake. Before he arrived on the scene no one even realised these people were trapped and may well have not survived.  With only a hard hat and a hack saw he was determined to locate his wife who worked on the third floor of the Press building.  Nick scaled and climbed the building next door and jumped on to the rubble of what was left of the Press building.  He sawed through an air-conditioning vent and freed two people trapped in the small space. One of these thought they knew where Stacey may be and Nick called to her … unbelievably she replied.  Alerting rescue workers, it took them a further 9 hours to free Stacey and three others, one of whom unfortunately didn’t survive.

Stacey spent many months in hospital with Nick at her side and they were married in the hospital chapel. 

The story of the rescue and of Stacey’s recovery featured on a TV1 documentary in August 2012...

https://www.facebook.com/riseupstacey
 

 
Morgan Perry, Christchurch (Semi-finalist Kiwibank Local Hero of the Year)

Morgan is a founding member of the Student Volunteer Army and serves on the University of Canterbury Student Executive. 

Morgan initiated a fundraising campaign after the passing of two students (Ellie Mabin and Chris McPherson) to raise money to help cover the costs of their rents and subsequently set up scholarships in their names.  He has also fundraised to help Jamie Gilbert’s family after the February Quake.

Morgan has also recently set up ‘New Zealand Random Acts of Kindness’ (NZRAK). NZRAK is essentially an online raffling tool used to help an individual, a group or an organisation, which is in need of a ‘Random Act of Kindness’, this may be due to financial struggle, health problems or to help contribute to the amazing work an organisation is already doing.

Katrina Hill, Christchurch

Katrina has been involved with her youth church for over 12 years and is the first person to volunteer her time to help someone else. Katrina has started numerous youth groups around Christchurch and has trained other youths to continue her work. After the February Earthquake she worked tirelessly in a community Welfare Centre in New Brighton and also set up a holiday program where parents could take their children whose schools were shut to provide some time out for the parents.

Deon Swiggs, Christchurch

Deon founded  Rebuild Christchurch on 10th September 2010 which provides community engagement and communication for the city of Christchurch through the Rebuild Christchurch website and service delivery, volunteer  coordination and service to assist with the rebuild of Canterbury following the February earthquake. 

Deon was made redundant after the February quake and has worked tirelessly using his own money to keep the vital communication channel open.

Deon is now working with a team (all voluntary) to develop the rebuild Christchurch Foundation as an extension of the website to reach and assist more people.

www.rebuildchristchurch.co.nz

Sue Pratt of New Brighton, Christchurch

Sue generously and tirelessly volunteers at Freeville School and in her local North New Brighton community in any way possible including building and setting up a community garden.
She was a great help to the community following the earthquakes when she set up a Welfare centre at her home, feed and comfort people despite her own home being badly  damaged.  Despite having five of her own children to care for Sue is at Freeville School every day without reimbursement creating wonderful new initiatives.

In the words of her nominator, Sue does everything with such vigour and love it is hard not to want to clone her!

Tristan Roberts of Kaiapoi (Semi-finalist Kiwibank Local Hero of the Year)

Tristan is a volunteer for the NZ Volunteer Fire Service for the past 11 years and for St John Ambulance.
 Aside from the 250 fire calls and around the same amount of ambulance call outs a year he also volunteers his time each week running a joint leadership program between the Fire Brigade and the R13 Trust which provides alternative educational and skill programs for young people not progressing in school.

Tristan worked very long days after the February earthquake, at the peril of his own business, assisting the community in their recovery and ensuring the welfare of his brigade members and their families were supported both financially and emotionally to ensure that the members could focus on providing services for their community.

Tristan works under the radar and never seeks publicity for his actions which have had such a positive impact on so many people’s lives.

James Ridpath, Christchurch

James has been a major part of the New Brighton community since 2005 running after school programmes for different ages, holiday programmes and is a much valued person at many local schools. 

James is a team leader of the Youth Alive Trust and spends many voluntary hours in the community on funding applications, coaches the soccer teams and organising fun events for young children. 
For 11 days after the Feb quake, James ran an activity programme every day for the children who couldn’t go to school creating a lasting impression on so many lives at such a difficult time. 

James successfully applied to Youthtown to take 85 children and 10 leaders to Auckland for some fun as a ‘break from the Quake.’
James Ridpath, a great role model for children and especially young men.

Rachel McKenzie of St Albans, Christchurch
Rachel is a totally dedicated Coastguard volunteer, demonstrated each and every of the 18 years that Rachel has been involved in the Coastguard. 

Rachel is the first to be called in any incident and attends the majority of callouts.  She also has been involved in training other volunteers and all of the current 35 volunteer members continue to experience her effectiveness in training and the entire unit benefits from her experience.

Despite working full time at the Council as a Lab Technician testing water quality, Rachel is a mother to a 4yr old.  She is committed to saving lives at sea, the Coastguards mission.  Over the last 5 years 654 people have been rescued by Coastguard Canterbury and it is guaranteed that Rachel was involved in the vast majority of these search and rescue operations saving many lives.

Rachel was awarded the National Coastguard Volunteer of the Year 2010.

Sean Scully, Christchurch (and Guinness, 'the earthquake dog')

Sean’s story starts with the February earthquake.  When it struck he was in an Advanced Land Law Lecture at the University.   The damage that Sean saw on that first day created a desire to help all those he came across starting with obtaining the use of a Bobcat assisting hundreds of homeowners with the removal of thousands of tonnes of liquefaction.

The next day, he called on his extensive network of friends around the country for donations and called the Head Offices of all major hardware chains asking for supplies with an exceptional response leading to collection of donated goods from the stores and dispersing them to affected homeowners in the Eastern Suburbs.
With an orange flashing light borrowed from a farmer, Sean lead trucks carrying heavy machinery into these suburbs.  What started as a friends bobcat and digger grew to four bobcats & diggers who at Sean’s direction for 3 weeks clearing liquefaction house by house, street by street at no charge. Word spread and Rotary Intl donated $70,000 in cash and diesel to further fund his endeavours.

Whilst the machines roared in and out of driveways, Sean walked the streets accompanied by his colossal canine companion, Guinness, the Irish Wolfhound.  ‘Earthquake Dog’s therapeutic value was soon recognised as many relished the opportunity to discuss the dog rather than the earthquake and many children receiving their first ever dog ride.

In the evenings Sean spent his time rallying more support, organised a wheelbarrow appeal in Auckland which resulted in 225 wheelbarrows and 750 shovels being received within a week.  With the aid of a trailer, Sean distributed and gave away everything he received.

After two weeks of 18 hrs a day physical work and rallying others, exhaustion set up and Sean was admitted to hospital, a stay which lasted two weeks.
Clearly his mind did not rest however and on discharge he decorated his car with 'Christchurch is broken, help us fix it,' packed Guinness and set off on a 10,000km journey thanking all those that had contributed.
He has since been working on an idea to help subsidise the wages of skilled graduates for the benefit of the business affected by the earthquake and developed a partnership with NZ Pet Doctors whereby Guinness would visit schools promoting volunteering and animal welfare.

Hayden Reveley of Mount Somers,  Ashburton

Hayden is a dedicated servant of ‘grassroots’ rugby both on and off the pitch.  His involvement in Mt Somers RFC in Mid-Canterbury dates back almost 30 years from player at the age of 6 through to Club President.
He devotes time and effort to rugby and to the wider community and has shown the much needed perseverance required in a rural community to find and retain players and raises much needed funds. 
The number of voluntary hours Hayden has committed to the Mount Somers RFC is innumerable and he organises his farm work to best meet the needs of the club, organising and running fundraising activities, cutting, storing his own pea straw and firewood resulting in thousands of kilometres of deliveries for the benefit of the Club.
In the community he also supervises Community Probation workers, organising tasks for them on farms and elsewhere, work seen to benefit the rehabilitation of offenders.
Hayden is constantly taking first aid and coaching refresher courses and through his leadership and personality he inspires those around him to achieve.

Argene Montgomery – Honger of Cashmere, Christchurch
Argene is a 25 year old Kiwi completing her masters at the University of Canterbury.  Over the last two years she has developed and initiated several projects from improving the lives of children with chronic illnesses through music to the capturing people’s memories of the earthquake and fundraising.
Argene came up with the concept of the Canterbury Time Capsule Project after the September 2010 earthquake collecting over 900 letters from the people of Canterbury documenting their experiences and hope for the future.  Prior to the February Earthquake, the A Time Capsule was an official exhibit at the Canterbury Museum
 It was a lucky escape from the hairdressers during the earthquake last February where she witnessed the destruction and toll on human life first hand including the death of one of her music students, an Irishman. This led to her determination to make something good out of it and she took on the challenge of climbing Mt Kilimanjaro to raise money for the ChCh Earthquake Appeal.
In April last year, Argene joined the Kilimanjaro NZ team as the NZ coordinator, partnering the founder of the project, Chris Flack in London.  She was part of a team of 12 Kiwis from around the world who successfully conquered the mountain on 5th August 2011 raising money for the Appeal fund.
Argene’s story is one of hope and strength and demonstrates that challenges can be overcome and dreams can come true.

Karyn Riley, Christchurch

Karyn is a parent educator and women’s well-being specialist, author of How to Keep the YOU in Mum, inspirational speaker, writer & mother of two.
Karyn helps working and stay-at-home mums have time for their priorities, rediscover their identity and fin balance in their life.  She provides mentoring programmes designed to support, inspire and empower mothers managing their various roles and responsibilities in today’s society.  Many mothers view Karyn as a role model and seek out her parental advice.  Karyn has persevered against the odds and continued to follow her beliefs in adding value to the well-being of mothers as well as voluntarily establishing several successful community initiatives including fitness classes and a business group with over 80 members and a plunket volunteer and president.
Karyn has made a significant difference in the lives of women, enabling them to achieve their goals, big or small and gain confidence and self-belief to make positive changes in their lives.

John Hartnell, Christchurch – Finalist Local Hero of the Year

John Hartnell lives in rural Christchurch and is an exporter of honey and honey related products. He is nominated in recognition of his leadership of Federated Farmers ‘Farmy-Army’, which assisted Christchurch’s earthquake recovery after the February and June events.  Mr Hartnell took on the role as Federated Farmers Earthquake Spokesperson the morning following the February earthquake. John worked closely with Civil Defence and Christchurch City Council, to understand the immediate needs of Christchurch residents. This identified what assistance that would fit with the abilities and enthusiasm of Federated Farmers members. There have been numerous on-going commitments, from residual clean-up efforts to lecturing on adverse events.

John worked around 84 hours a week throughout February and in early March. This was again repeated over several weeks in the aftermath of the June earthquake. It was common for the media to call from 5.15am through to 11pm at night. All the while, he also had to find the time to run his own business in between what became a major undertaking, physically and psychologically.

The actions of the Farmy Army did a tremendous job in breaking down the rural-urban divide with compassion and caring shown by country people; something not often seen in the larger cities today. What has amazed many, are the number of Christchurch people who, upon learning our people are farmers, without prompting said, "are you part of the Farmy Army? What a magnificent job", or "they arrived and cleared my elderly neighbour's section" and "they cleaned up my driveway when I was away working", "They were a Godsend". This contribution was recognised by Federated Farmers in June, when it named John Hartnell, Agri-Personality of the Year for 2011. It also recognised the thousands who had volunteered through the Farmy Army.
Katrina Hill, Christchurch
Katrina has started numerous youth groups around Christchurch and takes teenagers who wouldn’t normally associate in their social groups and brings them together.  Katrina is a qualified and dedicated youth worker and a deacon of her church committing substantial voluntary hours a week to helping others in need, has been a huge influence in helping people make positive choices in their lives and is an amazing leader.