Northern NSW Football (NNSWF) is pleased to announce the Newcastle Permanent Volunteers of the Month for June 2017 across the zones.
“Finding volunteers as passionate and selfless as this month’s winners are the goal for all sporting clubs across the country,” Community Football Manager, Peter Haynes said.
“Their contribution has been key in the continued success of the club and it is very pleasing to be able to recognise the effort and hard work they have provided there over the years.”
Each winner will be awarded a certificate recognising their achievement, volunteer jacket, and bag, courtesy of Newcastle Permanent, to assist in fulfilling their valuable roles at their respective clubs.
From the pool of monthly winners, a “Newcastle Permanent Volunteer of the Year” for each Zone will be recognised at the Northern NSW Football Annual Awards Night.
Newcastle Permanent Chief Executive Officer, Terry Millett echoes Haynes sentiments and applauds the volunteers who received the award.
“Newcastle Permanent’s Community Football partnership provides opportunities to recognise volunteers who give back so much to their clubs and communities. It is great to see a local being recognised for their ongoing commitment,” Millett said.
The June Newcastle Permanent Volunteer of the Month Award recipients from across each of its seven Member Zones are as follows:
Jason Toniello
Lismore Workers FC
Football Far North Coast
Jason has been a member of LWFC for many years however his commitment to the Redmen has been exemplified since early April this year when a major flood inundated Lismore. Jason was one of the first members to start the massive clean-up, with LWFC losing most of their items and ruining the club facilities. Since the flood, Jason has worked tirelessly to rebuild the clubhouse (whilst still also carrying on his normal full-time work and sporting commitments for himself and the family). He has also written grant applications to try and receive some much-needed help coordinated with Football Far North Coast about the availability of our field, arranged tradesmen and temporarily repair the canteen (to get us up and running again. He has worked many endless hours stripping walls, throwing rubbish, ripping up the carpet and all other physical, labour jobs needed to get the clubhouse back to normality. Jason has done all this whilst maintaining the treasurer’s role, playing when he can and working full time.
Martie Kuhn
Camden Haven Redbacks Football Club
Football Mid North Coast
Whilst Martie’s official title is Referee Coordinator, she is so much more than this to our Club. Martie was instrumental in assisting pre-season with our registrations. She also assists our Treasurer with chasing up outstanding rego payments, and thanks to her, we have some one of the lowest levels of outstanding fees in years. Martie makes food for our canteen, volunteers in our canteen, helps organise functions, helps with liaising with FMNC, assists with setting up of fields and provides Ground Control on our game days. All this on top of her official duty of Referee Coordinator, where she organises, teaches, encourages and develops our young referees.
Martie is also a very compassionate member of our Club, providing a listening ear to those with a problem, or those who need a shoulder. She is the dependable volunteer you know you can count on. She is very much worthy of this award, as she embodies everything this award stands for – she doesn’t do any of this for recognition (she’ll most likely be mortified that she’s been nominated), but for the good of the Club.
Someone as hard working and giving as Martie deserves to be recognised and celebrated – she’s certainly one of a kind!
Justin Ison
Thornton Junior Football Club
Hunter Valley Football
Justin has coached his son’s team at Thornton Junior Football Club since 2011. In 2017 he joined the committee and stepped into the roles of Club Coaching Co-Ordinator and Grounds Officer. In both roles, Justin has gone above and beyond.
As Club Coaching Coordinator, he undertook the training course earlier this year in between working shift work and making time for his wife and 2 children. He then jumped right into the role by welcoming new coaches, sharing useful coaching tips, advertising coaching courses and being available to anyone at any time to help.
When Justin isn’t helping other coaches, he is ensuring our grounds are top quality in his role as Grounds Officer. Even after a long shift at work, you will often see Justin down at the grounds aerating them, mowing, line marking, fixing goals or walking the fields to look for foreign objects that may harm one of the children in our Club. The week before our trial matches, Justin spent every afternoon down at the Oval ensuring the grounds were up to his very high standards.
As well as these official roles in the Club, Justin is the first to offer to help at working bees, BBQ fundraisers, Organisation Days and whatever jobs need doing to keep the Club running smoothly.
Game Days, Justin is down at the Oval at 7 am to setup. He ensures the grounds are safe for our families and that the facilities are ready to be used for the day. He is also there at pack up time, ensuring all volunteers are assisted in their roles. In between, he coaches his sons 13’s team and plays in an All Ages team. I am at a loss as to where he gets his energy!
On behalf of the TJFC and committee, I would like to formally recognise Justin for all his hard work and dedication.
Bridene Doherty
Kahibah FC
Macquarie Football
Bridene works tirelessly behind the scenes doing important club administration – jobs that often no-one wants to do. She has a full-time job and I don’t know how she manages to fit it all in! She is an asset to the club.
Dave Patterson
Hamilton Azzurri FC
Newcastle Football
Dave has been a dedicated volunteer for his club with many years’; his experience shown by covering numerous roles within HAFC. Dave has committed his time to ensure the 7 MiniRoos, the 12’s & 15’s plus 7 All Age and Zone Football League Three squads get the best admin effort that is available. Registrations can be a daunting task but Dave covers the chore with precision, ensuring that all players have the regos in on time, the paperwork is accurate and the treasury can cover the bill; fixture notification, adjustment to a time where necessary are all down with a minimum of stress. The Club now has joined the Zone Football League in Division Three and Dave along with the Management of that group keeps things on track that in itself can be a job on its own. How Dave finds the time from his ‘real job’ to mark grounds (usually with the kids nearby), check the pitch condition for match day (wet weather gets him up extra early), attend football meetings when set, drop off documents to the football office and still be able to get to play his own game on weekends is only for him to know……oh yeah, holidays are scheduled around football.
Dave has flown well under the radar for many years, doing what is needed with little fuss, time for him to be recognised for his dutiful efforts. All the best Dave…..keep up the energy.
Helen Urquhart
Sawtell FC
North Coast Football
Helen puts in numerous hours both down at the fields and at home for our canteen. Helen is normally first at the fields by 6 am on a Saturday and leaves after packing up after the last game sometimes not till 7 pm. On top of this Helen is also the club treasurer keeping on top of the finances. Helen is a great asset to our club and has been for the 18 years that I have been involved at Sawtell. With her, we would be in all sorts.
Preston Parkes
Glen Innes & District Football Association
Northern Inland Football
Preston has been involved with the Junior Club since his son was old enough to play, so that’s 5 years. He coached his son’s team until this year and only didn’t this year because his daughter’s team didn’t have a coach so he stepped into that role. He’s been on the committee that whole time and this year has moved from Vice President to President. He’s at the ground on Game Day usually from 7 am, to make sure the fields are marked, nets are put out, toilets are open and clean, bins are out and anything else that needs attention. He has just secured us a $1000 grant from the local council to update our PA system and fix our canteen. He’s looking at other grants and also working with Council to upgrade the facilities at our ground. Having played football himself since he was 5, he says he only puts in the effort so the kids in Glen Innes can have the same enjoyment he had when he was younger. He chases sponsorship so we can keep the fees down to attract more players. This year he has created a real casual and fun environment with music played over the PA to keep the little ones entertained. He’s very approachable.
