Is there someone in the community who goes above and beyond to help make Pelham a better place? The Fonthill & District Kinsmen want to know.
“We’re looking for somebody who is outstanding — that exemplifies positive community activism and volunteerism,” said Brian Iggulden, chair of the Kinsmen’s selection committee that chooses the town’s Citizen of the Year. “They can do a lot of volunteering or a little volunteering, as everybody who volunteers make some sort of impact.”
And while the service club is prepared to honour a worthy recipient once again, they need help to find that person or persons, so residents are being encouraged to submit nominations for the honours.
It is an award the Kinsmen have handed out annually since 1998, except for two years – 2020 and 2021 – due to the COVID-19 pandemic. For reasons lost to history, despite the award not being given until next spring, it is labelled as the "2024" Citizen of the Year.
Nominees must live or work in town and volunteer in Pelham. The deadline for nominations is Jan. 25. Nominations must be in writing and include as much information about the person as possible.
“We need to know what they participate in and the different the reasons that you nominated them,” Iggulden said.
From its humble beginnings, when the event was held at the old Davis Hall and was attended only by the mayor and the Kinsmen as well as the winner 26 years ago, to today’s banquet hosted by the Kinsmen at the Fonthill Legion and attended by local politicians from all levels of government, including provincial and federal members of parliament, the evening is one of the community's most popular occasions.
“It's morphed into something where now we have a packed hall,” Iggulden said. “The Legion will seat 150 and that's how many we have.”
The have been years where the award has gone to more than one person, notably in 2014 when the husband-and-wife team of Gary and Rosemary Chambers were honoured, and in 2022, when the award was shared by a father and son in Brad and Brayden Saplywy.
In most years, the committee receive upwards of a dozen names to consider, and Iggulden sees no reason why that won’t be the case this year as well.
“We usually get a nice amount of nominations every year,” he said, adding that sitting politicians or members of the Kinsmen are not eligible.
Nominations can be submitted by mail – pending resolution of a strike by the Canadian Union of Postal Workers employed by Canada Post – to P.O. Box 906, Fonthill, ON, L0S 1E0, or by email to [email protected].
The ceremony to honour the winner will be held in March 2025.
Past winners of Pelham’s Citizen of the Year:
1998: Carolyn Mullin
1999: Eric Bergenstein
2000: Jake Dilts
2001: Tony Finamore
2002: George Kowalski
2003: Anne Robbins
2004: Catherine Kuckyt2005: Gerry Berkhout
2006: Paul Ryan
2007: Gail Baltjes-Chataway
2008: Rick Lowes
2009: Gail Hilyer
2010: Gord Klager
2011: Sandra Warden
2012: Fred Disher
2013: David Swan
2014: Gary and Rosemary Chambers
2015: John Wink
2016: Ron Kore
2017: Judy Reid
2018: Frank Adamson
2019: Michael Jacques
2022: Brad & Brayden Saplywy
2023: Yvon Audette
