Editor:
I would like to extend my congratulations to this year’s winners and nominees of the Eric Flowerdew, John and Muriel Arnason and Pete Swensson Awards. All candidates were exceptional in their volunteerism and each person nominated this year, deserved to be recognized for their contributions to our community.
I’ve had the immense privilege of being on the nomination committee for the Township of Langley’s Volunteer Awards for the past few years. This means that I was part of the team that reviewed the nominations that were submitted and when necessary, sought out additional information on the candidates so that when the nomination packages were given to the selection committee, they knew everything there was to know about each volunteer.
It may seem overwhelming to put together a nomination package and that is why our group of volunteers exists – to assist where necessary. A nomination package must include a completed nomination form, letters of support and newspaper articles, if there are any.
On the evening of the awards dinner, the room was filled to capacity with volunteers, yet we had only six nominations for the Flowerdew and Arnason awards combined. The choice of candidates was outstanding but clearly, there are so many more people that deserve recognition and the only way for to do that are through nominations.
If you know a hard working volunteer or volunteer duo (friends, husband/wife, brother/sister team) that live and volunteer in the Township please consider putting their name forward for next year's awards. If you start compiling information now, you’ll already have done the research needed when it’s time to submit your nomination package. For a candidate, you need to know what volunteer activities they are involved in, what they specifically do, as well as the years they’ve been doing it.
Kari Medos, Langley