Mrs Laurinne Laing, of Auckland, MNZM for services to sports and people with intellectual disabilities
Mrs Laurinne Marion Laing has volunteered for the Special Olympics Howick-Pakuranga club for 35 years. She volunteers 30 to 40 hours per week with sports coordination, fundraising, and volunteer and athlete recruitment, and provides guidance to athletes and their families. She is the club’s Chair and the Deputy Chair and Fundraising Subcommittee Chair of the Special Olympics Upper North Island Regional Trust. Through the fundraising efforts she leads, athletes can travel to the Special Olympics World Summer Games, the Special Olympics New Zealand national games, and annual snow sports events in Wānaka. In 2013, Mrs Laing led a team of ten-pin bowlers to the Trans-Tasman Games in Cairns.