WRONG DATE
An item on Page A3 of Saturday’s
Examiner should have stated that the Homegrown Homes Caribbean night isJune 16 at the Montreal House.
Hundreds of local volunteers, people who donate hours, days, years, even decades to others, were honoured Monday night as the province presented its Volunteer Service Awards.
“The reasons why people volunteer change … some of them,” said Jim Russell, CEO of the Peterborough United Way. “But the one reason that has stayed near the top … is ‘for my community.’”
Community was out in full force at the Trentwinds, where the ceremony was held, as more than 300 people — most of them volunteers — filled the large banquet hall for an evening of celebration. One after another, they visited the podium and were presented with commemorative pins as their names, organizations and years of service were read out.
Colleen Moran, program lead with the Ontario Honours and Awards Secretariat, said the honorees on the list represent 2,618 years of service in Peterborough city and county. Among some of the longest-serving were Rick Eason, who has given 40 years to Scouts Canada (2nd Cooksville, St. Hilary’s Scouts) and Shirley Jackson, with 40 years of volunteering at PRHC.
“You all represent the heart of our community,” Moran told the audience of volunteers. “You are a light to others.”
VSA recipients were awarded for five, 10, 15, 20, 25, 30 and 40plus years of service. Youth volunteers, with two years or more, were also awarded. A complete list can be viewed at http://ontario.ca/vr60.
They work in schools, health offices, libraries, long-term care homes and with community organizations and foundations.
Russell recalled his years working at the Daily Bread food bank in Toronto, which relied on volunteers to survive. Some of those, he said, were the same homeless and poor who needed its services. Others were CEOs.
“And they would both show up to work,” he said.
Now that he’s in Peterborough, he added, he’s enjoying the community’s level of volunteer involvement.
“Volunteerism makes Peterborough riding a great place to live, work and play,” said MPP Jeff Leal, who helped hand out the awards.
Donna Babcock, who has operated the breakfast program at Prince of Wales Public School for 17 years, was presented with an award she officially received in April: the June Callwood Outstanding Achievement Award for Volunteerism.
Babcock is “someone the students have grown to know and trust,” Moran said, describing how the teaching assistant devotes hours of her time each week to track down food and cash donations and prepare nutritious breakfasts for children who would otherwise go hungry.
NOTES: Also presented to Volunteer Service Awards recipients was a special pin marking Queen Elizabeth’s Diamond Jubilee.… Monday’s presentation was one of 48 taking place across Ontario between March and June, honoring more than 10,000 volunteers.