|
City: Christchurch, New Zealand
Club: Waimairi, Christchurch
Age: 68
Number of children: 3 grown children
Occupation: Retired
Year Joined Kiwanis: 1991—as a charter member of her club
Current Kiwanis Position: New Zealand-South Pacific District chairwoman of Human and Spiritual Values
Previous Kiwanis Positions: Trustee to district foundation trust, district community youth services chairwoman, lieutenant governor, club president, and distinguished club secretary.
Other Community Activities/Accomplishments: Board of Trustees for the Southern Centre, which houses a special multi-sensory unit she has passionately supported; vice-president of her high school Past Pupils Association.
Motivation: “Volunteers are needed all over the world to maintain and improve communities to make a better life for our children.”
Why join Kiwanis: “My husband, John, has been in Kiwanis for 35 years, and I helped his club as a supporting wife. I was asked to join Kiwanis when women became involved as members, and I jumped at the chance.”
Favorite quote: The mission statement of the Southern Centre:
Show me something I’ve never seen.
Take me somewhere I’ve never been.
Tell me something new.
Share my dreams.
Rhondda Boxall enjoys tapping her feet along the giant piano keyboard on the floor of the Southern Centre’s multi-sensory unit. As she plays a tune, the keys light up different colors, creating a visual, aural, and tactile experience. But most important to Rhondda is the fact that the keyboard—and many other fascinating facets of the multi-sensory unit—lights up children’s faces with joy through myriad colors, sounds, textures, and more.
The multi-sensory unit is just one example of Rhondda’s enthusiasm and commitment to making the world a better place for children. The unit is a special place where children revel “eyes-, ears-, nose-, and hands-on” in the senses: sight, sound, touch, and even smell. Most important, the unit can accommodate children of all abilities, regardless of the severity of physical limitations.
“This is a wonderful facility, which has a full program every day and enthusiastic staff running it,” Rhondda says. “It took four years of organization to bring this project to fruition.”
When the idea for a multi-sensory unit was in development, the Christchurch City Council invited Kiwanis clubs to come on board with the project. Rhondda was among Kiwanians passionate about making the unit a reality. She supported fundraising initiatives, encouraged other Kiwanians to participate, and continues to promote fundraising to maintain it. She has served on the board of trustees for the multi-sensory unit since its inception, and she has a knack for recruiting zealots—at times by inviting them to experience the unit’s “magic” firsthand.
Her commitment to the multi-sensory unit is just one way Rhondda is touching lives in Christchurch. Projects also especially dear to her heart are the Kiwanis Care Dolls project (in which Kiwanians make and donate dolls to pediatric patients awaiting surgery) and a project to make and donate polar fleece blankets for babies in an area neonatal unit.
“I am passionate and dedicated to the work we do as Kiwanians and have made so many lifelong friends,” Rhondda says. “I hope I can continue to work with Kiwanis for many more years.”
|