Celebrating Our Volunteers – NVW 2025

19 June 2025

This National Volunteer Week (16–22 June 2024), we were proud to celebrate the heart and hands of our community: our incredible volunteers. This year's theme was “Whiria te tangata - Weave the people together."


Throughout the week, each of our Hospice Shops hosted their own morning teas and acknowledgements for our retail volunteers, recognising the hard mahi and heart they bring to their communities. These small, personal celebrations were spread across the week - except Tuesday, when we gathered for at McDougall House, celebrating those who volunteer in our care home, hospice, and other services.

At this event, from the moment guests arrived, the room was filled with smiles, chatter, and connection. Over cups of tea and slices of beautifully decorated cake, volunteers who work across our care home, hospice, shops, gardens and more came together to be recognised for their time, dedication and compassion.


To show our appreciation, a raffle was held featuring generous prizes donated by our wonderful suppliers. While not everyone walked away with a raffle prize, no one left empty-handed; each volunteer was gifted a large block of Bennetto chocolate and a bottle of Maude wine (chosen purely for its name, with no affiliation to Nurse Maude, but still a lovely nod!).

One of the highlights of the morning was the presentation of long service awards, honouring those who have stood by our side year after year, providing care, kindness, and consistency in times of greatest need.


In total, 🎉264 volunteers  contributed 21,714 hours over the past year - across the care home, hospice, hospice shops, gardening, and more. Their time, compassion, and commitment form the invisible threads that help hold Nurse Maude together.


This year’s theme, “Whiria te tangata,” beautifully reflects the essence of volunteering - people coming together, weaving connections, and strengthening communities.


To all our volunteers: thank you for being part of the fabric of Nurse Maude.


Ngā mihi nui - we are so grateful.

Thank you to all our sponsors who donated to our Volunteer Celebration!

Two new appointments headline on a blue gradient slide with two silhouetted figures.

Nurse Maude announces two executive appointments

20 July 2026
Nurse Maude appoints Kelvin Mason as Chief Financial Officer and welcomes Rowhan Kelly as General Manager, Service Development, strengthening its leadership.
Press release announcing new partnership to shape home care for kaumātua, with brochures on a blue gradient background

Shared history, shared purpose: new partnership to shape home care for kaumātua

8 July 2026
Nurse Maude Association and Te Puawaitanga ki Ōtautahi Trust have entered a new partnership to co-design the future of home care for the community in Ōtautahi, bringing together more than a century of community care experience with a kaupapa Māori approach to whānau support. The organisations have signed a Memorandum of Understanding formalising their shared commitment to design and deliver home care services grounded in whānau, responsive to Māori, and connected to the wider needs of the community. The partnership brings together Nurse Maude's long-standing expertise in home and community health care with Te Puawaitanga ki Ōtautahi Trust’s kaupapa Māori approach and extensive experience supporting whānau from māmā and pēpi through to our kaumatua services such as our Taurite Tū; Wai Ora and Oranga Tonutanga programmes. Together, the organisations will explore new models of care that support whānau and kaumātua to remain well, connected and living independently at home. The signing, held in the lead-up to Matariki, reflected the shared values and whakapapa of both organisations. Matariki is a time to remember those who have gone before us, give thanks for the present, and look ahead with hope. A strong theme throughout the day was the legacy of Dame Aroha Reriti-Crofts and Sibylla Maude, two remarkable wāhine whose vision, compassion and commitment to their communities continue to shape the work of both organisations. This partnership honours that legacy, while creating opportunities for future generations. While the partnership has a strong focus on improving outcomes for Māori, both organisations believe the learning and approaches developed through this mahi have the potential to strengthen home care services for everyone in Ōtautahi.