Duane Hicks
A total of 286 years of volunteering was recognized at the 2017 Volunteer Service Awards held Friday evening at La Place Rendez-Vous.
Some 21 district volunteers were recognized during the ceremony, although only a handful were there in person.
The Kiwanis Club of Fort Frances was well-represented this year, with nine members being recognized.
Besides Gordon McTaggart, who has been a dedicated Kiwanian for a whopping 60 years, the others included John Beaton (10 years), Dana Lyne Begin (five years), Toey Bone (five years), Pam Buttner (five years), Shanda DeGagne-Begin (15 years), Angela Korzinski (15 years), Irene Laing (10 years), and Karla Rogozinski (five years).
Other local recipients included
•Fort Frances High School First Responders Madison Krikke, Dylan Roth, and Judy Wu;
•Royal Canadian Legion Br. #29 members Alfreda Easton (15 years) and Norman Wood (20 years); and
•Robert Bombay of Emo, who has volunteered with the Northwest Community Legal Clinic for 15 years.
Several of the recipients hailed from Atikokan, including
•Nikita Matichuk (five years with the Atikokan Non-Profit Daycare Corp.);
•Jean Claude Charbonneau (30 years with the Canadian Cadet Organization-600 RCACS);
•Megan L.E. Brooks (10 years with the Girl Guides of Canada-Ontario Administrative Community 36); and
•Susan Girard, Jack Pierce, and Kale Sharbot for 10, 35, and 10 years, respectively, with the Lions Club of Atikokan.
Fort Frances Coun. June Caul, herself a lifelong volunteer, was the guest speaker.
Holding a green cloverleaf 4-H crest in hand, Coun. Caul said she learned the 4-H pledge at the age of 12 and since then has tried to live her life accordingly.
“I pledge my head to clearer thinking; my heart to greater loyalty; my hands to larger service; and my health to better living for my club, my community, and my country,” she recited.
To be a volunteer, each person needs to have these four qualities, Coun. Caul added.
“It is people like you being honoured here tonight who exemplify the true meaning of selflessness, kindness, patience, and caring,” she remarked.
“Volunteers show respect for whoever they meet and serve, no matter what the colour of their skin is, their nationality, their gender, their age, their religion, or their sexual orientation,” Coun. Caul stressed.
“Volunteers treat others the way they themselves would like to be treated.”
Coun. Caul conceded being a volunteer includes its share of sacrifice and frustrations, but it’s worth it.
“I love being a volunteer, and I want to make a difference in people’s lives and in the town I have lived in my entire life,” she said.
“I admire all of you here tonight who give of your time in such a variety of ways,” Coun. Caul added.
“Keep smiling and never get discouraged because all of you are so important.
“Volunteers keep our communities vibrant and the kind of place we want to live,” she said.
The ceremony also included a video message from Citizenship and Immigration minister Laura Albanese, and a few words from Colleen Moran, program lead with the Ontario Honours and Awards secretariat for the Ministry of Citizenship and Immigration.
“O Canada” was sung by Dave Miller of the Fort Frances Choraliers.
Meanwhile, Chris Bonner-Vickers received an Ontario Volunteer Service Award for his work with Firefly for the past five years. He received this award during a ceremony in Dryden last Wednesday.
