Volunteering knows no boundaries of age and the evidence appears in St. Albert in early May every year. The Community Information and Volunteer Centre (CIVC) recently announced the names of the four nominees for the 47th annual Volunteer Citizen of the Year Awards. Collectively, those four people have many thousands of volunteer hours under their belts, all compiled over the hundreds of years of their lives.
At the same time, it also released the names of the winners of the annual Leaders of Tomorrow Awards. There are four astoundingly generous young people who barely have 75 years between them, plus one incredible group that has offered its service to St. Albert and St. Albertans in more ways than most people would realize.
The awards ceremony is on Saturday, May 7 starting at 10 a.m. The program will include brunch and entertainment by the St. Albert Children's Theatre, with the winners of the Leaders of Tomorrow Awards being celebrated before the winner of the Volunteer Citizen of the Year Award is announced.
Tickets are $25 each available and are available at the CIVC office located at #10-215 Carnegie Dr. Call 780–459-6666 or visit www.stalbertcivc.com/recognition-awards for more information. Deadline to purchase tickets is this Friday, April 29.
Here are brief profiles of each of this year's winners:
Kaylee Eaglesham – 6- to 12-year age category
Kaylee Eaglesham might still be a pre-teen but she has the worldview of a sage elder. She has realized that the planet and all of its people need to work together.
That's probably why this Grade 6 student at Albert Lacombe Catholic Elementary School has been an active leader with the We Day Student Leadership Group for two years, helping to organize the program's local and global service projects.
"We're doing a Lenten project right now. It's a carnival and we're raising money by selling tickets… and the money goes to helping a school in the Philippines," the precocious philanthropist explained.
In addition, she has worked with the Service Leadership Group to help younger students with their schoolwork and other social struggles. Through this, she helped to create and implement a Buddy Bench for students to meet new friends. She is also a member of the Playground Pals team and helps the school's counsellor to organize fun recess activities for all.
She also started a book club during morning recess for younger students, co-created a drama club, works with the school patrol, and has been an active Girl Guide through her Sparks and Brownies years as well. She's now in her third year of Guiding and is working towards achieving the Lady Baden Powell Award, a time- and work-intensive effort. There's lots of other community work that comes out of Guiding, she added, and she loves all of it.
Outside of school, she volunteers at Fountain Park Recreation Centre, helping younger kids with their swimming lessons, one day a week for three hours.
She does just fine in her schoolwork, in case you were wondering too. Being so involved in so much extracurricular activity outside of her regular studies is something that she yearns for.
"It makes my heart feel good, seeing the reactions of people when I'm helping out, and when they're having fun in all these programs," she offered.
Amy Polczer – 13- to 15-year age category
Sports and music are what this exuberant Lorne Akins Junior High School student is all about. If you ask her though, the 14-year-old will tell you that it's all about giving to the younger generation.
"I do lots of volunteering with kids," she began, noting that she loves to help as a leader in training with the summer camps at Servus Place.
Polczer has been a volunteer as an assistant aquatics instructor at the Fountain Park Recreation Centre, an assistant camp leader and activity leader at Servus Place, and has also offered her time and services to provide the gift of music and entertainment for community and school groups alike. She recently volunteered to be the principal percussionist for Bellerose High School's production of Mary Poppins. That was nearly 70 hours of practice and performance that she offered for free.
"I spent lots of time after school with them for a few months."
The ardent musician also plays piano and sings. For those who are following her rising star, she recently did very well at the Rotary Music Festival held just a few weeks ago. She also has an interest in photography and had some of her work exhibited during the Amplify Festival last fall. She said that she was shocked and surprised to get this good news.
Kelsey Saxby-Mackay – 16- to 18-year age category
Graduating high school at Paul Kane means life is busy and there is lots of pressure to do well and to prepare for the future.
For 18-year-old Kelsey Saxby-Mackay, it doesn't mean she has to stop giving back to the community. In fact, it seems like the exact opposite is the case.
"I was very involved in volunteering with my junior high and before that, I had done a few things with different animal rescue societies with my mom. It's just something I've always done and something that I've always liked."
Her life of service started eight years ago with the youth group Job's Daughters, an organization that has brought her to helping out the Children's Festival, the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation and other community and charity efforts.
She has also volunteered with the Amplify Festival since 2014, where she has been tasked with supervising, training, and co-ordinating other volunteers. Then there's SOARing, the youth group that promotes volunteerism among youths.
"One of the main things we do is we go around to different schools and we present to different classes the benefits of volunteering. We try to help them get engaged in volunteer projects. If they want to do anything, we're like a support system," she explained.
SOARing also encourages its members to get out there themselves and be helpful through the city. As a member, she has volunteered at the St. Albert Food Bank, the Fire and Ice Festival, and with the St. Albert Kinettes, among others.
She also volunteers at the St. Albert Public Library. She said that the award is a nice reminder that she is doing something positive for the community. She was honoured to be picked out of all of the other worthy people who do such good work in St. Albert.
Andrea Frick – 19- to 21-year age category
This will be a big day for Frick, a seven-year member of the 533 Royal Canadian Air Cadet Squadron, this year's youth group Leaders of Tomorrow Award winner.
"It's really cool!" she enthused. "I was not expecting that at all."
She volunteers as an instructional mentor with the squadron, helping the senior cadets to develop their instructional capabilities by evaluating their lessons, providing them feedback, and by demonstrating best practices in instruction.
She also volunteers with Free the Children and she's at the Youville Home every Friday to help the residents out with social and recreational activities. She does other work throughout the community too, including an annual clothing drive for Edmonton's homeless community and for recent Syrian refugees who have come to make new homes for themselves in this area.
This is all in addition to her full course load at the University of Alberta.
"I like to keep busy," she noted. "I like giving back to the community. It's something I've always liked to do."
Previously she was on the student council at St. Albert Catholic High School from 2011 to 2014, serving as president during the last year. There, she also helped organize all school activities and charity fundraisers. That same year she was also involved with the school's Rotary Interact Club. In this capacity, she assisted with various fundraisers and projects including building a community centre in Nicaragua.
533 Royal Canadian Air Cadet Squadron – youth group category
The local air cadet squadron works hard to promote citizenship through active community involvement. You probably could have guessed that they are heavily involved with the St. Albert Legion during their annual Remembrance Day poppy drives, and are a visible presence during the Remembrance Day parade and ceremony at the cenotaph on St. Anne Street too.
When the more than 50 members aren't wearing their uniforms, those members are out there working at a large number of volunteer opportunities. They participate individually and as a group with the Partners in Parks clean up efforts in the Sturgeon River valley, the St. Albert Lifestyle Expo, the Snowflake Festival, the Rainmaker Rodeo Parade. They also work throughout the city in other capacities including at the St. Albert Public Library and the St. Albert Botanic Park.
"We do everything," Andrew Lejeune said, noting that simply being a youth group with free enrollment provides a valuable community service.
The purpose is to give back to the community by improving everybody's lives but volunteer service also makes them better people as well. People can join when they turn 12 but must retire by their 19th birthday.
Lejeune said that he has been involved for more than 20 years now, spending seven of those years as a cadet himself before he got involved in an organizational capacity. He said that his life is so much better for it.
"I'd say it has shaped it pretty significantly. There's a lot of great intangible skills you learn in the program: leadership, working with people, working with a team…"
