Parents Centre

As many of you know, I am involved with a Not for Profit Organisation in New Zealand called Parents Centre.

They are an organisation who provide Antenatal Classes and Parenting Education Classes for new Mums.

I have been involved with them since 2003, when we did our own Antenatal Classes with them.

When Ben was 5 weeks old, I joined the committee of my local centre and now 6 years later I am still involved!

I have held several positions on the committee since joining and have enjoyed them all.

When we moved to Hamilton I transferred to the local centre here, and walked straight into the President role.

After 19 months in charge I have sadly handed over the reins.

My family no longer uses anything that the centre has to offer, not that that matters, as I was not involved because of them.

I was involved for me, for something that I wanted to do, something that I could give back with.

Sadly my interests have changed slightly, I am still passionate about what Parents Centre does, but I found that as my family have grown, then I had less time for them and was not giving the same amount of time and committment that they deserved.

So last week I handed over the role of President at the Annual General Meeting.

I thought it would be a piece of cake to hand over, as I was quite happy to see it go, but, it was more emotional than I imagined. I got choked on my Annual Report and actually realised what I was saying goodbye to!

I have not walked away totally.....I am still involved with the centre but I now only look after the website, which is one area, not 6 like I was doing before.

I have made some awesome friends through volunteering and I am eternally grateful for that.

I am not going to stop volunteering, I just need to take some time with my family and the maybe find something else to move in to that fits with my growing family at the time that I need it.