Kathy Egan, Napier, QSM, for services to the community
Mrs Kathleen Egan helped establish the Napier Family Centre in 1983 and was appointed co-director in 1996. During her time as co-director the services offered expanded to include counselling, home-based childcare, early childhood education, budget advice, youth services and parental education. She started an anti-violence group in association with the Family Court and New Zealand Police which has since developed into the DOVE social service agency. She was involved in starting a food-bank in Napier which now feeds over 6,000 people. She was elected to the Napier District Health Board’s Ethics Committee and served as Chair for the Napier branch of the New Zealand Association of Counsellors and the board of Sacred Heart College. She was an executive member of the Family Courts Association Hawke’s Bay, and was on the seeding committee of the Hawke’s Bay Domestic Violence Interventions Project. She has opened her home to temporarily accommodate abandoned and disaffected teenagers, teaching them life skills during their stay.