Nicole Murray, left, and Marie Fitzpatrick have won a Kiwibank Local Hero award for setting up a baking charity that delivers homemade goods to people in need.

Take a good idea, add butter, sugar, chocolate, 500 volunteers, and hundreds of people in need, and you have a recipe for a local hero or two.

Wellington friends Nicole Murray and Marie Fitzpatrick had both experienced a difficult time in their lives, during which the simple and small acts were the ones that resonated the most.

So after drinking a few glasses of pink bubbly, they decided to pay it forward and start delivering baking to people who were, for whatever reason, missing out on a bit of home comfort.

"There just seemed to be a lot of people doing it tough out there and a really small thing gave you enough of a boost to get you through," Fitzpatrick said.

A day later they had 15 friends wanting to help out, a week later strangers were ringing asking to be involved, a year later they are a registered charity with 588 "good bitch" bakers in eight cities and have delivered more than 44,000 "slices of happiness" to people in need.

On Monday the pair were awarded a Kiwibank Local Hero award, one of 292 awarded nationwide for good deeds in the community.

"We have just provided a framework for people to be amazing and we are very honoured [to get the award]," Fitzpatrick said.

"We have quite the team ... and it gives us hope that the world is not going to end up as terrible as we thought."



Murray said they had been blown away by the response to Good Bitches Baking, which delivers to 75 places including Ronald McDonald houses, homeless shelters, women's refuges and the Salvation Army.

"More than the growth, has been the impact that cake has. It's sounds silly. But we get feedback that some how home baking can create a sense of home for people that don't have one, or can't be there because it's not safe or are having to travel for treatment."

The Wellington chapter has already reached capacity with 300 bakers on the roster and 70 more on a waiting list. The charity needed more expressions of interest from people to receive the baking.

The pair spent a lot of time crying because of the feedback they received from all over New Zealand, Murray said.

"Places like the refuge or shelters tell us that some people there had never had home baking in their lives.

"How does that happen? No one has never made baking for them, not even a birthday cake when they were a kid. It breaks my heart."

Without any funding, they have invested their own money to get charity up and running, started a Givealittle page, and were hoping to apply for grants now they were a registered charity.

The charity was still expanding with six more groups in the stages of setting up.

The Kiwibank Local Hero medals are awarded as part of the 2016 New Zealander of the Year awards and the winners are all eligible for the supreme

Councillor Sarah Free presented the medals and said the winners were examples of the qualities that hold the city together.

"Their charity, selflessness and generosity have touched upon the lives of so many and make our community a better place to live," she said.

Kiwibank chief executive Paul Brock said the winners were humble and outstanding citizens.

"They might not see their deeds as special. They'd be the first to say they're not special people. But we know otherwise so these awards are Wellington's way of saying thanks."

WELLINGTON'S LOCAL HEROES

The other recipients of the Kiwibank Local Hero Awards for the Wellington region are:

* Matt Wilson, Rathkeale College student who has fundraised $80,000 to design and build a hospital extension in Niue.

* Julie Harrison, spent six years running the Timberlea after-school programme.

* Neil McKee, organised the Wellington Ride of Respect to mark the Gallipoli centenary and raise funds for RSA.

* Trudi Amos, chairwoman of the Lower Hutt Plunket Toy Library.

* Aaron Hape, founder of Commonwealth Youth New Zealand that engages young leaders in the work of the Commonwealth, national and local initiatives.

* Nicole Doriguzzi, animal therapist at Wellington SPCA and volunteer at Cystic Fibrosis Wellington

* Lloyd Martin, founder of Praxis, a Christian networks that runs NCEA courses in youth and community work.

* Dani Petterd, volunteer at Johnsonville Plunket for five years and helped raise thousands for the group.

* Pete Woodward, volunteer at Coastguard Kapiti Coast, never misses a training and raised $12,000 for the group.

* Shelley Warwick, trained nurse and driving force behind Otaki Kids Safe Crossing Group.

* Colin McKenna, spent 40 years in the New Zealand Fire Service in Featherston, 19 as a volunteer.

* Napier and Lyn McFredies, for services to swimming and surf lifesaving in Otaki, where Napier joined the lifesaving club in 1963.

* Marilyn Baigent, music teacher at Aotea College for 30 years, retiring at the end of the year.

* Mark and Jackie Kennedy, owners of Otaki New World, donate breakfast to Cactus - a military programme for youth needing a life change.

* Stacey Richardson, fundraising and events co-ordinator at Tawa and Linden Plunket Group.

* Raechel Osborne, manager of Kapiti Youth Support which provides free physical and mental healthcare for 10 to 24-year-olds.

* Viv Malneek, stalwart of Martinborough community and organises various events, also former librarian, Plunket chairwoman.

* John and Catherine Timms, for work in setting up first aid and health and safety programmes and founding the Neonatal Trust.

* John Russell, principal of Naenae College who has changed the school for the better in his nine years in charge.

* Julie Harris, co-ordinated the collection of 8000-kilograms of unwanted fruit and distributed it to charities.

* Brooke Butler, chief executive of Hope Trust which raises funds to help people pay for medical treatment.

* Mani Mitchell, founder of Intersex Trust of Aotearoa New Zealand, world's first charitable trust for intersex people.

* Bonnie Howland, developing a organic mascara that will fundraise for Fred Hollows Foundation, which performs cataract operations in the Pacific Islands.