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'Local Hero' Medal Awarded to Sunday School Teacher

Lavina Anderson is a regular volunteer reading tutor with Wai Study Help. This means that she spends her Thursdays with children from Te Kura Kaupapa Maori o Te Whanau Tahi in Christchurch helping them read in English.  

She also volunteers with the Red Cross and teaches a children’s Sunday School class in the Cashmere congregation of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.   

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All of these efforts were recognised and rewarded last night when she was one of twenty Canterbury and West Coast recipients of a Kiwi Bank Local Heroes Medal and Award.  

Anderson, 38, said it felt “awesome" to receive the medal.  Medals were presented to a wide range of people including the founder of Orana Park and a boy who had saved a classmate from drowning.  

Even though Lavina has taught her Sunday School class and provided volunteer service at her church for as long as she can remember she says “it was nice to be recognised along side people who have done amazing things.”

Read more about The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and community service.

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