Airdrie’s top volunteers honoured

shannon woodward
airdrie city view

Certainly, every nominee for the Volunteer of the Year awards deserves the recognition, but with only four awards to distribute, organizers were left with a tough decision on their hands.
Earlier this year, residents of Airdrie were asked to nominate individuals or businesses whom they believed displayed outstanding community commitment, and who are making a difference in someone’s life or in the community. Nearly two-dozen nominations were submitted in four categories.
After much anticipation, the winners in each category were announced at a special celebration May 2:
• Rachelle Reed was awarded the Leader of Tomorrow Award for her continued involvement in the HyJinx Youth Council as well as her volunteerism in many other aspects of the community. Reed is one of the founding members of HyJinx, is involved with the BEAR Program with elementary students, the HIP Program with junior high girls and fosters puppies waiting to be adopted.
• The Volunteer Advocate Award was presented to the Airdrie and District Victim Assistance Society (ADVAS) for its team of highly dedicated and trained professional community volunteers. In total, ADVAS has contributed more than 5,000 hours of service to crime and tragedy victims including more than 1,400 hours of crisis intervention and 600 hours of follow-up support for both RCMP and community referrals.
• Peter Brown was presented with the Soul of Airdrie Award. Since moving to Airdrie five years ago, Brown has found himself involved with Airdrie’s bid in the Hockeyville contest, the Airdrie Minor Hockey Association, Airdrie Regional Recreation Enhancement Society, the Airdrie Agricultural Society and the AAA Western Canadian Bantam Championships.
• For its contribution in prompting Airdrie as a place for community and opportunity through volunteerism and philanthropy, AirdrieLIFE magazine was awarded the Ambassador Award. One of AirdrieLIFE’s mandates is to give worthy causes recognition and promotion of their events and fundraising needs by providing listings for all community groups and sports organizations in every issue.
The winners were chosen by the Community Services Advisory Board using a voting system.
“Each member of the board provided a score from 0 to 100 per cent for each nominee,” explained Clay Aragon, Family and Community Support Services coordinator. “To keep the excitement going and to ensure the integrity of the selection process, apart from myself and a few City staff, the results were kept confidential. Even the presenters did not know who won.”
This year’s award ceremony marked the sixth annual celebration of the event that makes sure Airdrie’s volunteers know just how highly we value them.

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