Abbess of Fo Guang Shan (FGS) New Zealand, Venerable Manshin has been honored as one of the top 10 semi-finalist local heroes of New Zealand in 2023 by Kiwibank, a well-known local bank. This list recognizes 100 outstanding individuals who have made enormous contributions to the country of New Zealand from hundreds of nominees. Venerable Abbess Manshin was one of the recipients, the only Asian and the only religious person among the 100 recipients.
The selection committee stated that these 100 local heroes of New Zealand were chosen from 17 regions across the country and 12 fields of contribution, with hundreds of nominees this year making the selection process a significant challenge. All of the awardees have been quietly working in their communities for years, and their efforts have brought many positive values and improved the quality of life for their communities.
Abbess Manshin, was recognised for her tireless efforts, for more than 30 years, demonstrating outstanding leadership skills, wisdom and compassion to lead the team to contribute to education, social care, arts, cultures and spiritual development in New Zealand. Other awardees include Dudley Andrews, a former New Zealand military officer, who used his military training experience to set up Kaitaia School, which uses military training to develop discipline and confidence in students. Another nominee is Jim Lynch, an ecological conservationist who works to create safe habitats and conserve endangered birds.
In line with Venerable Master Hsing Yun’s philosophy, Abbess dedicate her life to the service of others. Compassion is at the heart of Abbess’s work and teachings. She has set up education programmes to nurture the values embedded in the Three Goodness – Do Good Deeds, Say Good Words and Think Good Thoughts. Over 25,000 students and teachers from 51 schools have participated in this programme since 2014. During the height of the pandemic, Abbess responded immediately by importing 15,000 Rapid Antigen Test kits from BLIA HQ into the country to aid the shortage of test kits and to reduce the impact of the Omicron variant on the community. She organised the distribution of these kits across 97 schools in Auckland and Christchurch within four days. The New Zealand government was amazed and impressed by the selflessness, agility, solidarity and efficiency of the BLIA members. Again, Abbess showed her concern whenever needed with urgency.