Mrs Henry has been involved in community initiatives in Invercargill for the past 20 years.
For her, it was about volunteering, not about earning awards.
She appreciated the "valuable learnings" from her older clients. Their "beautiful parenting advice" had motivated her work with Age Concern Southland since 2008 and she is the current vice-president for Age Concern New Zealand.
Mrs Henry is a founder and current director of Invercargill parkrun, which was established in 2018. It encourages hundreds of people to meet weekly to run or walk through Queens Park.
As a national parkrun ambassador since 2022, she has provided mentorship and sponsored defibrillators for newly established events in other New Zealand towns.
She sponsors an annual Murihiku women’s duathlon, supplying goodie bags for all participants, and sponsors other local sporting initiatives including the local men’s football club uniforms.
She is a past chairwoman of the Surrey Park Early Learning Centre governance committee, regularly supports Green Light Innovations literacy initiative and was named the 2021 BDO administrator of the year.
Mrs Henry grows vegetables at her law firm’s premises to donate to local soup kitchens and families in need through Spirit Army and also provides free legal advice for the organisation.
Elizabeth Janet Henry
Invercargill
KSM
Community and sport
