13 September 2022
We’re very excited to tell you that Harbour Hospice volunteer Pennie Kennings has won the Westfield Albany Local Heroes 2022 award!
Announced today, Pennie was voted by the community as the winner for her tireless mahi as the coordinator of our North Shore Life Story team, whose writers visit patients in their homes to record their life stories.
Pennie’s success means that Harbour Hospice has been awarded a $20,000 grant which will be used to purchase three patient beds and resources to enable the life story teams to continue their incredible work.
Pennie, a retired counsellor, says she’s “humbled by the recognition and the incredible support I’ve received.
“I’m just so happy we could achieve this for hospice. This is representative of the whole Life Story group, they’re a wonderful team who work really well together.”
Pennie has volunteered for Harbour Hospice for 17 years, and run the group for about 14 years, providing training and ongoing support. She says she loves seeing the joy that telling their stories brings to patients.
“Their lives are punctuated by illness and medical appointments, so they really just enjoy being able to talk about times gone by,” Pennie says.
This is the second year in a row that we’ve won the award. Last year the title went to our Chief Executive Jan Nichols.
Jan says of Pennie’s win, “We’re absolutely thrilled. The work of Pennie and the life story team has a profound impact on the lives of our patients and their families, and it’s wonderful that Pennie has been recognised by the community in this way.”
Thank you to everyone who voted for Pennie! Every single vote helped to secure that well-deserved recognition for Pennie and a $20,000 grant for Harbour Hospice.
