From humble beginnings on the board of the Howick Free Kindergarten in the 1960s, Mrs Horton has blazed a trail of fundraising success culminating in a decade-long involvement with Starship Children’s Health. It’s a place she describes as “the love of my life”.
Instrumental in raising money for lifesaving equipment at Starship, including the country’s first paediatric bone marrow transplant unit, Mrs Horton developed her skills for raising necessary funds when she was on the board of the Laura Ferguson Trust for Disabled Persons.
“The Laura Ferguson Trust was the first charity to move beyond the ‘annual fair’ formula for fundraising into a more corporate structure with sponsors becoming corporate partners with the trust,” she says.
“Those were the heady days of the mid 1980s. We had charity balls covered by the BBC and extravagant fundraisers that became signature events. Charity finally became a profitable entity.”
Through the years, Mrs Horton has also been involved in a vast range of not-for-profit organisations, including the Salvation Army Bethany Centre, Women’s Refuge, The Breast Cancer Foundation and Home and Family.
She’s passionate about the protection of families. “The most important to me is that children are given the best start in life.
“It feels so good and so right to spend my time and resources in supporting children and families to have the best chance at life.”
Named after Catherine Variety Sheridan, a one-month old infant abandoned outside the Sheridan Square Theatre, Pennsylvania on Christmas Eve 1928, the award is presented in recognition of philanthropic achievements, primarily with children with disabilities.
