National Director awarded Paul Harris Fellowship
Rotary District 9970 Governor Margaret Reeve presents Dave Marshall of Big Brothers Big Sisters with his Community Paul Harris Fellowship. Dave was nominated by Whakatu Rotary.
The Rotary Club of Whakatu has awarded Dave Marshall, National Director of Big Brothers Big Sisters in New Zealand, a Paul Harris Fellowship. This Rotary International award is the highest award within Rotary and is conferred in recognition for outstanding work in the community. Rotary District Governor Margaret Reeve presented the award to Dave Marshall at Whakatu Rotary’s breakfast meeting last month.
Rotary has been a key component to the success of Big Brothers Big Sisters in New Zealand. In 1996, another Rotary Club, the Rotary Club of Nelson, explored the idea of establishing a parenting project which would be of benefit to children at risk between the ages of 5-12 years in the Nelson area.
Following initial discussions with local community groups, it was suggested that this could become a mentoring initiative. Dave Marshall was employed in 1997 as Project Leader. The operation name of the programme at that stage was “One to One” mentoring.
Learning and concept development saw a re-branding in 1998 as “Big Brothers Big Sisters” to align with the international programme of the same name, and the first mentor match in Nelson in July of that year. In 2003 Big Brothers Big Sister International gave Dave Marshall the mandate to lead the national development of the program. It was then that an alignment with the principles of Rotary became even more important.
Today Big Brothers and Big Sisters is a nation-wide initiative that has helped hundreds of young people find a new direction in life. Whakatu Rotary has maintained their active interest in Big Brothers Big Sisters, and other Nelson Rotary clubs provide leadership, marketing and governance as well as financial support, fundraising events and mentors.