{"id":26853,"date":"2020-06-25T09:18:07","date_gmt":"2020-06-25T13:18:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/?p=26853"},"modified":"2020-06-25T09:19:37","modified_gmt":"2020-06-25T13:19:37","slug":"gary-wright-humanitarian-award-winner-forever-thankful","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/gary-wright-humanitarian-award-winner-forever-thankful\/","title":{"rendered":"Gary Wright Humanitarian Award-winner forever thankful"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

It was Brent Morning\u2019s life-long dream to skate at Maple\nLeaf Gardens. He was getting used to his walker on skates, but when the\nopportunity presented itself, there was no question he was going to learn how\nto skate and make it happen. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

He stepped out on to the ice on December 27, 1985. One of\nhis best friends from King City Secondary School couldn\u2019t make it, but he did\nit on his own and made friends within the first five minutes on the ice. They\nwere going to make sure Morning wasn\u2019t going to be trampled by the other\nskaters in the sanctum of the city\u2019s beloved hockey team. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Following a few laps, Morning felt a tap on his shoulder. He\nturned and it was none other than Bobby Orr. Was it divine intervention? Was\nthis really happening? He didn\u2019t know. All he knew was Bobby Orr had asked him\nhow many laps he would skate. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe pledge says 50 doesn\u2019t it?\u201d Morning replied.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And Orr in return, offered to help him in his last few. In\nthose laps, other individuals coalesced to help Morning finish off his skate. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The P.A announcer turned everyone\u2019s attention to Morning.\nHis mother was racing down the arena steps in excitement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He was only 16-years-old. It was the start of something\nspecial. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It feels like yesterday. Today, at the age of 51, Morning has\nbeen awarded the 2020 Gary Wright Humanitarian Award in a virtual gala on\nYouTube.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Established in honour of the founder of Friends of We Care,\nGary Wright, the award is presented to a member of the Foodservice Hospitality\nIndustry who has contributed to the improvement of the community. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhat more can I say? I\u2019m grateful for the community, I\u2019m\ngrateful for the sponsors and volunteers. This has given me a job. When the\nvirus hit, I thought we might as well raise money. Golf is secondary, the money\nis for the kids,\u201d Morning said graciously. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

A life-long resident of Kettleby, Morning has hosted a\ncharity golf tournament with Friends of We Care since 2014, amassing $65,000 in\ndonations in six years to fund local children with disabilities and ensure they\ncan go to summer camp.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Four-time Olympian Brian Stemmle has been his emcee since\nday one. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Born with cerebral palsy, Morning attended a disabilities\ncamp in Collingwood at the age of eight. He had a blast. He is adamant that\nother children have that chance to experience what he had. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

He\u2019s had a knack for fundraising and he discovered this as a\nlocal Timmy (Ambassador) for Easter Seals in 1981.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When he was searching for a co-op job in high school years\nlater, Easter Seals seemed to be the best fit. Fluctuating between the Public Relations\nDepartment and the Fundraising Department he learned quickly how to raise\nmoney. He even helped coordinate Bobby Orr\u2019s Skate in 1987. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

He raised $8,000 in 10 years. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI was honoured by my school in front of the whole school in\nKing City, with a bronze skate from Easter Seals and I thought, \u2018Wow, there\u2019s a\nthousand people in the gym screaming,\u2019\u201d Morning chuckled.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He became a craftsman in his trade. A spokesman for what it\nmeant to donate to a noble cause. At Easter Seals, he directly and indirectly raised\nabout $200,000 in total in close to his 40-year tenure being involved. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since joining Friends of We Care, a third-party organization\nfor Easter Seals, he made it happen with support from Kevin J. Collins and a\nstrong group of volunteers. They helped Morning along the way. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cCurrent President of Easter Seals Ontario Kevin Collins,\nSusan Shephard and the late Susan Brower were my key influences in\nfundraising,\u201d Morning said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

They taught him how to influence. With more sponsors\nentering the picture, Morning wanted to set up an affordable golf tournament\nand in the first two years there were a lot of successes. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI think the first year we raised $3,800 and the next year\nwe raised $7,200. My rule of thumb is let\u2019s try to get $100 per player,\u201d\nMorning explained. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

With an affordable price to play, more money can be catered\nto the donations and to the prized auctions at the end. Morning emphasized this\nis all about the children and all proceeds go to their cause. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

He is incredibly thankful for all the support he has\nreceived. He doesn\u2019t believe in an \u201cI\u201d. He says without a team, it\u2019s just him\nand this all would not be possible. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

He is humbled by his sponsors such as Schomberg\nTechnologies, Motive Media and Priestly Demolition.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBrent has limitless passion and energy for his annual golf\ntournament supporting Friends of We Care. His network of friends and supporters\nare always there when he calls for sponsorship, prizing or participation in the\nevent. We Care is truly fortunate to have Brent helping send kids with\ndisabilities to accessible summer camps just like the one he attended when he\nwas young,\u201d Executive Director of Friends of We Care Tiana Rodrigue said in a\nstatement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He says he has lived out every dream he has every aspired to\nbe a part of. He helped out at a Maple Leafs practice and was an assistant\nequipment manager for the Newmarket Royals. But Morning is disheartened this\nyear\u2019s tournament will not be played out. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019m sad that we couldn\u2019t have the event this year, it would\nhave been last Thursday (June 11), unfortunately, but we\u2019ve got to be safe.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He encourages people to donate online to\nFriendsofWeCare.org, and mark your Brent Morning Charity Golf Challenge. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This year, the golf tournament was set to be scheduled at\nKettle Creek Golf Course. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI never thought in a million years that my little idea\u2026I\nthought if we raised seven or eight thousand dollars a year for five years that\nwould be pretty good for Kettle Creek, but somehow last year got up to\n$19,000.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Morning says 100 sponsors were confirmed before the pandemic\nand many of them have done what they can. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

He understands donations will not be the same considering\nfinancial implications as he looks forward to planning the next tournament in\n2021. Easter Seals camps have been cancelled and are being held virtually. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Originally from Aurora, his 85-year-old father James Morning\ncould not be prouder of his son. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe Morning family, myself, my sons and my daughter are very happy with what he has done over the years.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

By Robert Belardi<\/strong><\/p>\n\r\n\"Facebook\"<\/a>\"twitter\"<\/a>\"mail\"<\/a>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It was Brent Morning\u2019s life-long dream to skate at Maple Leaf Gardens. He was getting used to his walker on skates, but when the opportunity presented itself, there was no question he was going to learn how to skate and make it happen. He stepped out on to the ice on December 27, 1985. One […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":26840,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_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}},"categories":[24,9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-26853","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news-sports","category-sports"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/2020-06-25-04.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3D2k4-6Z7","publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-04-22 16:08:18","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\/26853","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=26853"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26853\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26840"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26853"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26853"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26853"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}