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Meet the Staff

Volunteer Nelson currently has four part-time staff and a wonderful variety of amazing volunteers that help us both in the office and behind the scenes, to deliver our services.

Gordon Oldfield & Ernie
Gordon Oldfield
Manager

Gordon is originally from South Africa and has lived in Nelson with his wife and two children since 2007. Previously a pharmacist, sight loss compelled him to find a new direction. His professional and academic interest is now in health and disability services management. He has a particular interest in the role of volunteers in community organisations. He can often be spotted walking in Nelson with his guide dog, Ernie.

Ernie
Ernie
Guide Dog/Office Dog

Ernie is Gordon’s trusty Guide Dog. He loves to meet and greet staff and office volunteers each day – often bringing them one of his soft toys to throw for him. In his role as Office Dog he brings us laughter, positivity, and great morale as well as reducing stress levels.

Ellie Young
Volunteer Co-ordinator

Ellie Young arrived in Nelson on Christmas Day 2018 and loves the strong sense of community.  Ellie sees volunteering as a great way of connecting people to organisations who can benefit from their wealth of knowledge, skills and passions and look after their wellbeing.  Her professional background is in community services.  Her passion is people and connecting their knowledge and skills to enhance communities.   Ellie holds Masters in Sustainability and Climate Policy, alongside post-graduate studies in Integrated Human Studies. She also works with the Nelson Environment Centre in People and Culture.

Danielle Robson
Youth and Community Coordinator

Danielle was born in Ireland and spent many years working in the environmental education and community sector in the UK. She moved to Nelson in 2017 and started volunteering at Volunteer Nelson which led onto a job in the organisation. She enjoys all aspects of working in the community sector particularly with young people. Danielle loves spending time with her family, going for a coffee with friends, tramping, camping, kayaking and exploring new places.

Sharon Doole
Administration

Sharon and her husband, Phillip, relocated from the Hutt Valley in March 2022.  Sharon started volunteering for Nelson/Tasman Hospice and Top of the South Neighbourhood Support and attended the Wellby Talking Cafēs to meet people and learn more about the Nelson Tasman area.  She joined Volunteer Nelson team in June 2022 as the Office Administrator and assists with Volunteer Nelson programmes like Wellby and Be Collective.  Outside of work Sharon enjoys gardening, walking, tramping, handcrafts, meeting and spending time with new friends.

Meet the Board

We are led by a governance board of committed volunteers who share a passion for giving back to their community.

Louise Taylor
Louise Taylor
Chair

Louise moved permanently to Nelson from London in 2018 after a long love affair with New Zealand. Her professional background includes recruitment, sales and IT, and she currently works for BlueBerry IT as their Account Manager.

Louise has joined Volunteer Nelson because she loves living in Nelson and wants to give some time back to the community.

David Taylor
Deputy Chair

David moved from the UK to Nelson in 2014. He is a semi-retired technical consultant and project manager, with experience in assurance and risk management. He has volunteered at Volunteer Nelson, Restore and Neighbourhood Support and helped at Nelson Tasman Housing Trust.

In 2016 he started helping Volunteer Nelson with their IT, and is heavily involved with the business, including the monthly Community & Whānau meetings.  He joined the Board at the end of 2016, and took on the Secretary position for three years.  He was elected to Chair the Board in 2019.

Marie Lindaya
Marie Lindaya

After 5 years working with International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), Marie came to NZ in 1990 to settle; and has since worked with the public and private sectors – Department of Internal Affairs,  ACC, Nelson City Council where I professionally learned governance matters, being the Mayor’s PA for 15 years.

In 1992 whilst with Internal Affairs, she organised the first meeting of Nelson Multi-Ethnic Council, which has now evolved to Multicultural Nelson Tasman, 27 years on.  In between work and life is her community volunteering which grounds her to grass root community issues and allows her to build relations with and help individuals and groups of diverse culture, age and gender.  She joined the then Nelson Volunteer Centre in 2009 and she is proud to return on the Board after 2 years hiatus.

Michelle Nunes-Vaz

Since 2008, Michelle has been serving and working professionally with various charitable and non profit organisations. Professionally, she has had her own accountancy practise for over 20 years and as part of this – enjoys helping charities meet their governance and compliance responsibilities. Personally, Michelle likes the chance to give back as a board representative to the non profit sector and in this way is looking forward to working with others to further the outcomes of Volunteer Nelson. Michelle feels lucky enough to work alongside the team at Volunteer Nelson and has done since 2021.
Michelle has 4 adult children, and moved to Nelson from Auckland in 2020.

Glen Robinson

Glen is a proud Nelsonian, having spent most of his working career in Sales Management and Advisory roles before becoming Self-Employed in 2014 alongside his partner in their Accounting and Business Advisory firm.

Glen joined Volunteer Nelson as a board member to give back and make change in the Nelson Community that he loves and currently holds the role of board secretary.

Outside of this, Glen enjoys travelling, spending time with his friends and family, and spending time at St Arnaud.

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