Teresa McCarthy thinks her mom is the best. And the Aldergrove Fair agreed with her, awarding Jeannine McCarthy the prestigious Helen Reddick community service award during the fair this past weekend.
And it’s not just because Jeannine was a past participant in organizing Aldergrove Fair Days, which she was.
The award was for all she has done in the community.
“It’s not surprising that Jeannine is spending her retirement years in service to her community, as both her professional and volunteer work throughout her life has been dedicated to enriching her community and improving the lives of its most vulnerable members,” Teresa McCarthy wrote when nominating her mother.
Jeannine is also the president of the Sts. Joachim and Ann Catholic women’s league where she has volunteered for years, and sits on the board of Arcus Community Resources, which provides residential care to people with developmental, neurological, and physical disabilities.
She was a founding member of Langley Hospice, helped found the adult daycare program now provided through the Langley Seniors Resource Centre, has served on the board of Langley Home Support, Langley Days, the Langley Curling Club, the B.C. Target Sports Association, the Langley Lions ladies, and more.
Jeannine also started a group for caregivers of people with Alzheimer’s and started a support group for people with the disease.
“I’ve only touched on a selection of the work that Jeannine has undertaken to make a difference in this world,” Teresa said of Mom.
Not only has the community benefited, but Teresa noted the impact hits home for her.
“She’s an example to me of how to live a life of service, strengthening communities and enabling individuals to thrive,” her daughter wrote.
The Reddick Award is one of the highlights of the annual fair, which ran the July 20 to 22 weekend.
A busy weekend
In addition to the country fair and agricultural elements, the fair featured the rock band 54-40 and a standing-room-only crowd.
The fair also offered up the tractor pull, midway, Friday evening car show, food trucks, vendors, games, community group displays, chill cookoff, and more.
In the World Quick Draw Championships celebrity event, the winners were Cathy Gibbs, representing Langley MLA Mary Polak; Colleen Clark from the Greater Langley Chamber of Commerce, Kelly Gal of What’s On magazine; Otter Co-op’s Bev Dornan; and film producer Michelle Muldoon. In the men’s contest, the winners were City Councillor Rudy Storteboom; Bruce Heslop, from Diamond Bar Equipment; MP Mark Warawa; Kurt Neuman, RCMP liaison; and Rotarian Leon Jensen.
In the fast draw sanctioned event, the winners were Aldergrove’s Nicole Franks, Burnaby’s Karen Robinson, and Sarah Pantano, from Kansas, for the women. For the men, Calgary’s Howard Darby won first, with Mike Pantano second and Langley’s Shawn Murphy third.
In Sunday’s chili cookoff, the team Wild Thing Chili won first. Chili, Chili, Bang, Bang from the Aldergrove Legion won the team spirit award.