Doing something for community
He’s humble, quietly spoken, with an easy smile and relaxed demeanour; Dixon Hurunui has been volunteering for a long time, helping to look after those less fortunate.
He has been chosen as Volunteer of the Month.
Sandra Rickey, Whanganui Volunteer Centre manager, presented him with a certificate, a volunteer pin and a $40 voucher from Mud Ducks cafe.
“We have now nearly 960 volunteers and we support 104 organisations. The idea of Volunteer of the Month was to recognise the work of volunteers in the Whanganui community. You do it out of the goodness of your heart and what you do is so much. No organisation would run without volunteers.”
Dixon started his volunteering career in September 1999.
“The first kitchen I started volunteering at was St Mary’s,” he says. “I do all the vegetable prep — peeling potatoes, preparing pumpkin, cabbages, carrots — that sort of thing.
“I was in the psych system at Stanford House, and when I was in my last few months there the staff asked me what I would like to do.”
They suggested he could be a volunteer at Friendship Meals. Once he was back into the community, that’s exactly what he did.
“I was at St Mary’s for a couple of years and I heard there was another kitchen at Christ Church. I asked if I could come and give a hand.”
Dixon was accepted.
“A few months after that I heard there was a kitchen at Trinity Methodist, so I went up there and talked to Dick Mansfield . . . then I started working there. So I was doing Mondays at St Mary’s, Christ Church on a Tuesday and Trinity Methodist on a Friday.”
At the moment he is working Monday and Tuesday while the Friday meal is in recess.
Dixon lives in the central city so he can walk to his workplaces, although he has a friend who can give him a lift in bad weather.
During that time Dixon has been learning from the cooks and he can now bake cakes and turns out the odd batch of scones. He loves volunteering. “It’s good that you can get out there and do something for the community. For yourself, it’s good to have something to do during the week and keep motivated,” he says. “It’s not healthy to stay in bed all day; it’s good to get out there and do something with your life.”
He says they cater for between 25 and 30 people a day. “The people pay a koha and that means we can have a variety of meals. Of course some of the food is donated.”
He has made a lot of friends over the years, including fellow volunteers. When the kitchens take a Christmas break, you’ll find Dixon at the Memorial Hall preparing vegetables for the Christmas meal.