Karla left and Bonnie, recipients of the Queens Service Medal (QSM)

Members of District 37 are pleased to acknowledge two of its members (both from the Whakatane Club) receiving the Queens Service Medal in the recent Queens Birthday Honours.  Both these women have both worked very hard for Quota and in their respective fields and all Quotarians are very proud to be associated with them.

Mrs (Bonnie) Gael Janet Collyns ROGER.

Awarded the Queens Service Medal for Services to the Community and the Horticulture Industry

Bonnie has been a member of Quota International since1996 and was President of Quota International of Whakatane in 1999/2000 and was District 37 Governor in 2004-2006.

She was very involved with Quota’s pilot programme to bring newborn hearing testing to the eastern Bay if Plenty. Hearing testing of newborns has now become a national programme. She lobbied for years to get funds allocated for this project and also represented Quota on the steering committee of Ear Nose and Throat Specialists, Audiologists and Therapists to get the programme up and running.

Bonnie was responsible for Quota being accepted for membership of the National Council of Women as a Nationally Organised Society and did a presentation to their National Conference in 2003.

Bonnie has held executive positions in many voluntary organisations including National Council of Women, the Outward Bound Trust and Women in Self-Employment and has recently been appointed to the Dietitian’s Board.  She was also a business mentor with BisInfo between 1999 and 2004 and is renowned for her flexible and supportive leadership style.

She is a Past President of Pacific Probus Club of Mount Maunganui and a charter member of Pohutukawa Probus of Ohope and the Papamoa Rotary Club.

She has an in-depth knowledge of the horticultural and floricultural industries and ran a florist business in the Kapiti area and managed horticultural and landscaping businesses in the Hawke’s Bay and the Bay of Plenty.

She is an active Justice of the Peace.

Mrs Karla Jean HAMMOND

Awarded the Queen’s Service Medal for Services to People with Disabilities

Karla has been a member of Quota International of Whakatane since 2000.

She is currently Governor of District 37, Quota International.

She is the Whakatane Quota Club’s Publicity Director and has worked to significantly raise the profile of the club through networking with local media. She received Quota International’s Club Excellence Award for Outstanding Success in Publicity for 2009 and she was named Whakatane Quota International Volunteer of the Year for 2004/2005.

She was Mayoress of Whakatane for six years and worked to support her husband in his role as Mayor as well as contributing a significant amount of community work herself.

She has been involved with organising the Biennial Eve Rimmer games, a multisports event for people with disabilities.  She worked in this organisation since it was first held in Whakatane in 2000.

She has been an elected member of the Kawerau Social Services Trust, which administers the Mountain View Aged Care Complex, since 2004.

Karla is Patron of the Bay of Plenty Disabled Persons Assembly and the Whakatane Arts and Crafts Society.

She was part of a dynamic team that raised 1.5 million to build a cancer treatment centre in Whakatane to service the Eastern Bay of Plenty.

Karla has been appointed to the local Community Trust that distributes funds to local groups.