The municipality is celebrating local residents who have dedicated their time to giving back.
The second annual Community Recognition Awards were handed out at the Bradley Centre, honouring 23 people from each of Chatham-Kent’s six wards who have gone above and beyond to make a positive impact on the community.
One of the Wallaceburg recipients, Brian Armitage has been actively involved in volunteering for decades, most notably with WAMBO and the Sydenham Challenge Dragon Boat Festival, says he’s humbled by the award.
“I’ve been volunteering since I was 17 years old, it’s just something I was raised to do,” Armitage says. “I’ve always enjoyed it, engaging with people and making our community a better place to live. It’s part of the DNA, I guess.”
Mayor Darrin Canniff says volunteers are the backbone of Chatham-Kent.
“We could be celebrating hundreds of people, there’s a ton of people who are very deserving of this and each year we’re going to be recognizing more of them,” Canniff says.
Canniff says he loves hearing the stories of people who volunteer in Chatham-Kent, most of whom do so very quietly without any fanfare.
The Community Recognition Awards are a partnership between the Mayor’s Office and CN Railway.
The complete list of the 2024 award recipients:
Mark Authier
Crystal Bilinski
Susan Thiessan
JP and Catriona Huggins
Cindy Brewer
Joe Pinsonneault
Dave Cameron
Virginia Smith
Brian Armitage
Henry Van Haren
Bruce Warwick
Walter Tomaszewski
Geri Ann Hughson
Tim Haskell
Heather Belley
Frank Parker
Christine Knights
Rafi Veettil
Peggy Pankrac
Greg Hetherington
Colin Poole
Michael Wright
Lynda Weese
