{"id":16845,"date":"2017-03-22T18:06:36","date_gmt":"2017-03-22T22:06:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/?p=16845"},"modified":"2017-03-23T16:43:16","modified_gmt":"2017-03-23T20:43:16","slug":"shine-a-light-on-outstanding-community-volunteers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/shine-a-light-on-outstanding-community-volunteers\/","title":{"rendered":"Shine a light on outstanding community volunteers"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

Volunteers are the unsung heroes in every community, but now is the time to sing their praises as the Town of Aurora accepts nominations for the 2017 Community Recognition Awards.
\nWhether they are your neighbour, your co-worker, your student, or even someone you might know only by reputation, the Town wants to hear from you.
\nOver the past year, a dedicated group of Aurora citizens have been hard at work organizing the 2017 Community Recognition Awards, which will culminate in a special awards ceremony saluting the \u201cstars\u201d of Aurora on Monday, May 29, at Town Hall.
\nEncompassing volunteer service awards recognizing 20, 25, 30, 35, and 40 years of service, the Youth Volunteer Achievement Award, the Green Award, Good Neighbour Award, Good Business Award, and award for contributions in the fields of Arts & Culture, Inclusivity, and Community Safety, potential nominees could be your friends,
\nco-workers, neighbours, or students.
\n\u201cFor however many years we have all lived here, this Town has always been a Town of giving back, caring and volunteering,\u201d says former mayor Tim Jones, now an ambassador for Neighbourhood Network, and an active member of the committee spearheading this year\u2019s awards. \u201cVolunteers actually run this town, be it hockey, be it soccer; you go back years and years and it has always been volunteer driven, and that is why everything has been so good in this Town.\u201d
\n\u201cVolunteers are everything to this Town,\u201d agrees fellow committee member Jo-ann Spitzer, herself a past recipient of the Citizen of the Year award. \u201cWe just have unbelievable support. We could always do with more, we have unbelievable support from individuals around the Town who want to help out and give back and I think it is marvellous.\u201d
\nThe purpose of the Community Recognition is to bring these people into the forefront and, if there is a residual benefit in shining a light on these accomplished individuals, that doesn\u2019t hurt either.
\n\u201cWe like to think it is our purpose to be able to encourage the volunteer to come out,
\nthank them so they know they are appreciated for what they do, but also for them to be
\na role model and set the example for others,\u201d says Mr. Jones. \u201cWe try to do it to inspire
\nothers to take a close look at what volunteering is about, to taste it, feel it, and maybe say, \u2018I\u2019ll try it. Usually, if you try it, it is pretty good. There is a lot of self-satisfaction
\nin volunteering and I think that is why people do it.\u201d<\/p>\n

WHAT\u2019S NEW FOR 2017?<\/p>\n

If you are familiar with the Community Recognition Awards, organizers have a few tricks up their sleeves to make this year\u2019s nomination process and awards ceremony fresh and exciting.
\n\u201cWe have tried to make it a little bit more inclusive,\u201d says 2013 Citizen of the Year Brian North.
\nNew this year is a twist on the customary Accessibility Award. Now known as
\nthe \u201cInclusivity Award,\u201d it is designed to still celebrate those helping to break
\ndown barriers in the community but well beyond disability.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat we wanted to do was broaden the scope of the award so it wasn\u2019t strictly about accessibility,\u201d says Stephanie Mackenzie-Smith, Manager of Corporate Communications for the Town of Aurora. \u201cWhile it certainly still can be, we want to be able to recognize individuals, groups and businesses that have contributed to making Aurora a more inclusive community and recognizing that we want people to understand that this is a great place to live, work and play for all people regardless of race, nationality, ethnic origin, colour, religion, sexual orientation, marital status, family status or disability.
\n\u201cI think it is a very important thing that as the Town evolves we are making sure we are recognizing and celebrating those that are playing that role in our community and celebrating diversity and inclusivity.\u201d
\nAlso new for 2017, recipients will be celebrated to the wider world \u2013 in real time \u2013 through ongoing social media engagement throughout the night.
\n\u201cThere is a bit of a theme [this year] of celebrating the stars in our community,\u201d says Ms. Mackenzie-Smith. \u201cThe physical awards go along with that theme and we want to make sure
\nthe evening has that touch that the guests feels special and knows how much they are appreciated \u2013 and it is really about them. We are lucky to bring in other sponsors from our community that want to provide food and assist with the evening in different capacities to show that they have an appreciation for the role of volunteers in our community as well. They have a great, important role in also making the volunteers feel special and appreciated.\u201d<\/p>\n

CITIZEN OF THE YEAR<\/p>\n

Many of the individuals with a direct hand in organizing this year\u2019s awards program know that special feeling all too well, having served as Aurora\u2019s Citizen of the Year. In addition to Councillors Sandra Humfryes and Tom Mrakas, and Mr. Jones, they committee is rounded out by recipients Diane Buchanan and Steve Hinder, as well as Mr. North and Ms. Spitzer.
\n\u201cI remember the uh-oh,\u201d says Mr. North, recalling being brought to Council Chambers on some other pretext only to realise, as Mayor Geoff Dawe spoke, that he was actually the recipient of the Citizen of the Year award.
\nTraditionally, recipients of the Citizen of the Year award are kept in the dark about their recognition until it is announced by the Mayor. This is a tradition which endures.
\n\u201cIf you just take a look at some of the names that are on that Citizen of the Year plaque, it is a pretty impressive list of people who are on there who have really given back to the Town,\u201d says Mr. Jones on the award designed to recognize wide-ranging community impact. \u201cHaving done twelve of these [recognition ceremonies] myself it is neat to watch as the Mayor describes who it is and sees the realization on their faces.\u201d
\n\u201cThe Town has grown so much and we are turning into this much bigger community and we have this amazing, diverse community now and we want to make sure that all of those people who are maybe new to the community or have just moved here know of all the amazing volunteer opportunities that are out there and ways they can become involved in the community,\u201d adds Ms. Mackenzie-Smith.
\n\u201cThat is also a very important part of the evening, showcasing the people who are already volunteering but also helping other people in the community see the benefits of getting involved and how many amazing opportunities involved here. There is a real sense of community, joy and connection that can be found and becoming a part of the volunteer community here in Town.\u201d<\/p>\n

For more, visit www.aurora.ca<\/p>\n\"Facebook\"<\/a>\"twitter\"<\/a>\"mail\"<\/a>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Nominations for 2017 Community Recognition Awards now open<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":16813,"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-16845","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\/2017\/03\/2017-03-23-05.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3D2k4-4nH","publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-05-24 09:40:47","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\/16845","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=16845"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16845\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16813"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16845"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16845"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16845"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}