Geraldine volunteer Robin Crawford has been recognised for his hard work.
Mr Crawford was presented with September’s volunteer of the month award for his contribution to the Geraldine Community Vehicle Trust.
The award was given to him by Volunteering Mid and South Canterbury at the beginning of the month.
He had been volunteering as a driver for the community trust for over half a decade.
Throughout that time, he had also been volunteering for Geraldine’s Meals on Wheels organisation.
He was nominated by Rachel Wilson who said he always went ‘‘the extra mile’’.
Whenever the organisation had a problem, he was always its ‘‘first port of call’’, she said.
Mr Crawford’s wife Bronwen also volunteered for the community.
The couple were ‘‘heavily invested’’ in keeping everyone in the community connected, Mrs Wilson said.
Two years ago, he had volunteered on Christmas Day to ensure residents with wheelchairs could get to and from their family events.
The following Christmas, Mr and Mrs Crawford had visited a regular customer.
‘‘They are assets to the community,’’ Mrs Wilson said.
Mr Crawford said there was an ‘‘emphasis through the Covid-19 pandemic’’, with lots of lonely people staying home who could not get out.
After the first lockdown, Mr Crawford was in a shop in Dunedin and he noticed an older lady outside the shop.
He told her to ‘‘come in’’.
‘‘She was petrified — it was the first time she’d been out of the house since the lockdown.’’
A lot of people were affected, he said.
He would encourage others to volunteer — along with a sense of satisfaction, volunteering had allowed him to meet different people, including people that did not ‘‘see a lot of others’’.
He enjoyed what he did.
While it might be time away from the golf course, he did not mind, as it filled in his time, Mr Crawford said.
