The 2016 Orana Volunteer of the Year has been awarded to Dubbo’s Kathy Furney.
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Ms Furney was chosen as both the overall winner and the senior volunteer of the year, due to her passion for motivation others to exercise.
Unfortunately the winner was unable to accept her award, as she was cycling around Tasmania.
Volunteers across the Orana district were celebrated for the work they do on Wednesday with the presentation of the Volunteer of the Year Awards.
The finalists in the youth, adult, senior and volunteer team of the year were presented with certificates, before the winners in each category were announced.
Youth volunteer of the year went to Felicity Rostron for her work with the Taronga Conservation Society as a consistent and reliable member of the Education Committee.
Meanwhile the Stars of Dubbo 2016 Committee was awarded the Volunteer Team of the Year from more than 50 finalists.
The team grew the fundraising from $55,000 last year to a whopping $115,000.
Lightning Ridge farmer Marianne Spooner was chosen as the Adult Volunteer of the Year.
Ms Spooner volunteers with charity Frontier Services’ Outback Links which provides on the ground support for farmers to manage drought.
Unfortunately there were no nominations for a student volunteer of the year.
Ms Rostron was in shock after she heard she had won the award.
“I was absolutely stunned, for a couple of reasons. I’m not actually a youth, that was a little surprising,” Ms Rostron said.
She said she had been with the Taronga Conservation Society for just over two years.
“My children had just left home and I needed something to do with my time. My daughter and I had spoken about volunteering there before,” Ms Rostron said.
“I went to one of their recruitment days and signed up, the rest is history.”
Working full time Ms Rostron said she didn’t get to the zoo as much as she liked, but she said she managed to give her time at least every second weekend.
Dubbo has one of the highest rates of volunteers in NSW.
“I’m very proud of being a volunteer and I encourage lots of people to volunteer,” Ms Rostron said.
The Centre for Volunteering received more than 7,500 nominations this year, the highest they’ve ever had.