{"id":10806,"date":"2015-05-27T16:07:39","date_gmt":"2015-05-27T20:07:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/?p=10806"},"modified":"2015-06-03T17:54:40","modified_gmt":"2015-06-03T21:54:40","slug":"community-recognition-awards-honour-auroras-brightest-ambassadors","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/community-recognition-awards-honour-auroras-brightest-ambassadors\/","title":{"rendered":"Community Recognition Awards honour Aurora\u2019s brightest \u201cambassadors\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Brock Weir<\/strong><\/p>\n

In the words of Mayor Geoff Dawe, they are \u201cthe mortar that really binds our community together\u201d, and on Monday night, over 90 outstanding community volunteers and organizations were honoured for their contributions to Aurora at the Town\u2019s annual Community Recognition Awards.<\/p>\n

Whether they had contributed as volunteers for five years, 10 years, 15 years, and over 20 years of service to community groups as varied as the Aurora Horticultural Society, Seniors Association, Food Pantry, Minor Baseball, Scout troops and other sporting organizations, they were hailed by Mayor Dawe for the \u201cpositive contributions\u201d they have offered Aurora as a whole. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe glowing comments and the stories we received for each of our recipients here is nothing short of inspirational and it is certainly a privilege and a pleasure to acknowledge your immeasurable commitments to our community,\u201d said Mayor Dawe. \u201cI would like to thank you all for being here, and for the many spirited years of service you have provided to our community. You are certainly our best ambassadors.\u201d<\/p>\n

Individual achievements were recognized in several categories, including the Youth Volunteer Award, which honours youngsters who have given their time for the greater good.<\/p>\n

Sama Sobhani, for instance, was awarded for his work with the Junior Youth Empowerment Program, which empowers young teens to take part in social action. He has been involved with the program for nearly four years, dedicating his time to mentoring others to improve the world around them. <\/p>\n

12-year-old Lily Edmunds was also recognized for her multifaceted contributions. A track star with an Olympic goal, she has used her passion for running to raise money for those in need, raising more than $1,000 for the Alzheimer Society of York Region in memory of her grandmother. She now serves as the youngest-ever member of the organization.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis means a lot to me because I never really thought I would be recognized for my achievements, so this really makes me happy,\u201d says Lily. \u201cI just wanted to do stuff for charity and it really made me feel proud. It is just the feeling you get when you\u2019re doing it and, once you\u2019re done, the smiles you get.\u201d
\n

\"Nancy

Nancy Black with Mayor Dawe<\/p><\/div>
\nCivic Appreciation Awards, designated to individuals or groups who have received provincial, national and international recognition, were handed out to Reg Chappel for his decades as a coach of a variety of local swim teams, including the Aurora Swim Club and Aurora Master Ducks. 12-year-old harpist Sebastian Gobbels was also heralded for his world-class talent, a distinction recognized by the Royal Conservatory of Music.<\/p>\n

Charles Sequeira, long-time president of the Aurora Seniors\u2019 Association and advocate for seniors\u2019 issues was singled out for the Individual Outstanding Achievement Award, while the group\/non-profit honour was picked up by Sport Aurora, which now has 28 local sports clubs under their umbrella.<\/p>\n

The Good Neighbour Award, instituted to \u201cthank those who continually demonstrate generosity, kindness and consideration towards their neighbours\u201d was given to Jim Normone, a resident of Aurora since 1984, who is always willing to lend a hand when his neighbours need it the most. <\/p>\n

The Community Organization of the Year Award was given to the Aurora Sports Hall of Fame, while Nancy Black, a driving force within the Aurora Sports Hall of Fame received the Bob Harman Memorial Award, which recognizes those who have made \u201ca distinct contribution to the field of recreation\u201d over at least 15 years.<\/p>\n

Ms. Black was honoured for her more than 20 years volunteer work as founder of the Masters Swimming Club, the Master Ducks, and her work establishing the Aurora chapter of Special Olympics Ontario.<\/p>\n

\u201cI would like to say this more than validates the work I have done because [but] I don\u2019t see this as an individual award,\u201d she says. \u201cYou don\u2019t do things alone. I was up there individually, but it is all of those people who have been involved in those efforts that helped me do what I was doing.\u201d
\nInspired by her mother, an active volunteer, with student clubs and the CNIB, Ms. Black says although she didn\u2019t set out to honour her mother, it taught her the \u201cright thing to do.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was my founding drive to do things because they should be done.”<\/p>\n\"Facebook\"<\/a>\"twitter\"<\/a>\"mail\"<\/a>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In the words of Mayor Geoff Dawe, they are \u201cthe mortar that really binds our community together\u201d, and on Monday night, over 90 outstanding community volunteers and organizations were honoured for their contributions to Aurora at the Town\u2019s annual Community Recognition Awards.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":10800,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[4,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10806","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-general_news","category-news"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/2015-05-28-12.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3D2k4-2Oi","publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-05-25 06:56:00","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10806","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10806"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10806\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10800"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10806"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10806"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10806"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}