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Citizens of the Year award recipients announced

Jan 2, 2018 | 4:00 PM

For two of North Battleford’s top citizens, being honoured for their community work as Citizen’s of the Year is a humbling recognition that neither felt they deserved.

In late December, Cathy Richardson was named the Citizen of the Year, while youth Emily Simon has been awarded the Junior Citizen of the Year title.

Richardson said she appreciates the recognition. 

“It’s a real honour,” she said. “It’s very humbling.” 

“I feel like everything I do, I do as a team,” she said. “For all of those events and the things I work on, I meet people every day who are as worthy of this award if not more worthy than I am. They inspire me to do better things every day, to be a better person. There are so many great people in North Battleford, it’s amazing.”

Richardson previously received the battlefordsNOW Best of the Best (BOB) award this fall for the title of Best Citizen. So the latest award is another feat for the dedicated resident.

Richardson, a speech pathologist with Living Sky School Division, has been involved in a number of volunteer projects to benefit the community.

She is currently a volunteer with Saskatchewan Winter Games and is co-chair of the Ceremonies and Protocol committee. For over the past 2-and-a-half years, she has been involved with the local Habitat for Humanity project in the Battlefords and is continuing her volunteer work for this effort.  

Richardson has also been involved with the Battlefords Trade and Education Centre (BTEC), fundraising for the organization’s current new building.

She has also raised $25,000 to name a music room at BTEC to honour her friend Kenny Perkin, who had Down Syndrome. He has since passed away. 

Originally from Swift Current, Richardson came to the Battlefords in the 1980s, where she has long family roots.

Among her many accomplishments, she also has prior experience serving as a city councillor.

“It opened my eyes to a lot of things that are out there in our community,” Richardson said. “There are so many ways… to get involved and work together to try to make the community a better place.”

Emily Simon, named Junior Citizen of the Year, was thrilled to be honoured with her award

“It was a little bit of a surprise; I wasn’t quite expecting it,” said the 16-year-old. 

The John Paul II Collegiate Grade 11 student is involved in a variety of volunteer work projects, while at the same time has been on the school’s honour roll list every year.

She is the Grade 11 activity coordinator at school and is also co-president on the Students Against Drinking and Driving (SAAD) committee. 

Some of her efforts include starting a small business to complete spring clean ups. She has donated the profits from this project to the Me to We education fund in Ecuador and to KidSport Saskatchewan.

Simon has also travelled to Ecuador and helped build a school there through her involvement in Me to We and has also volunteered at the Lighthouse Serving the Battlefords.

The youth encourages other students to also try to get involved and help others.

“Give it your best and always think about how you can help change the world a little bit,” she said. “Even if it’s just a small thing, like holding open a door, or giving a smile, it can always change someone’s day a little bit. You just have to keep focused and know what your goals are.”   

Glen Gantefoer, who sits on the awards selection committee, said the committee starts receiving nominations in October and makes its decisions in December.

In selecting Cathy Richardson for the Citizen of the Year award he said “she is the one that shone above the others in terms of her volume of volunteerism in the community. That’s what the award was all about.”

He also praised student Emily Simon, the Junior Citizen of the Year award recipient for her efforts.

“For the 10 years I have been involved in this Citizens of the Year committee, the students have been amazing,” Gantefoer said. “The kinds of volunteer work students do are just unbelievable, and Emily is a shining example of somebody that goes above and beyond to help people in her community.”

The award recipients will be recognized at a banquet and ceremony on Friday, Feb. 2 at the Western Development Museum in North Battleford. Tickets are available at Discovery Co-op.  

 

angela.brown@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @battlefordsnow