Civic Awards

Every year the Municipality of North Grenville recognizes and honours the achievements and contributions of community members through the Civic Awards program. These awards express the Municipality’s appreciation for the many individuals and groups who are helping to create a community where people feel a sense of belonging and responsibility to each other and who are active participants in its development. The Civic Awards program is overseen by Council.

Who is eligible for a Civic Award?

Any youth, adult or senior in the Municipality of North Grenville who willingly volunteers their time to benefit others is eligible for an award provided that they live in, operate a business in or volunteer within the boundaries of the Municipality.

Please note that the Civic Awards do not recognize individuals for personal successes or professional achievements. As well, nominations by immediate family members, self-nominations, and posthumous nominations will not be accepted.

What are the Civic Award Categories?

How do I nominate a volunteer or group of volunteers in my community?

What supporting material should be included?

What is the deadline for nominations?

Where do I send the nomination forms?

Disclaimer

2021 Civic Award Recipients

The 2021 Civic Awards ceremony occured at the February 9, 2022 Virtual Council Meeting.

Agricultural Leadership (Senior, 56 years and older) (New category): Joyce Seguin

As 4-H volunteer and leader for over 35-years, Joyce Seguin has selfishly opened her home, farm, and life to teach agricultural principles to multiple generations of children. Joyce is a true pillar of family and agricultural strength.

Her passion and daily work inspire all that know her that anything can be accomplished. Promoting farm to fork before the term was popular, a long-time 4-H leader and long-time Kemptville Hospital volunteer, Joyce has contributed to the long-term stability of our Municipality with her quiet leadership.

Arts and Culture (Senior, 56 years and older): Herb Cloutier

Herb Cloutier has spent the last 10 years actively volunteering and championing the arts and culture in this community. Having fostered relationships with the BIA, Kemptville District Community Association, Kemptville Live, and the North Grenville Community Foundation to name a few, Herb has been involved in a wide variety of community events including, the Santa Clause Parade, Downtown Promenades, Canada Day, and our increasingly famous Kemptville Creek Community Skateway! Herb ensures our local arts community have a voice in any event he is involved with.

Environment (Group): Sustainable North Grenville

Sustainable North Grenville was created to help raise awareness about sustainability issues in North Grenville. Its mission is to foster a resilient community that meets the social, cultural and economic needs of its residents now and for the future, while preserving the environment’s ability to support it. Sustainable North Grenville provides the community with resources and information on how we can become a more sustainable community, even through small changes in our daily lives.

Exemplary Work in the Community (Youth, 25 years and younger): Eliza Batchelor

Eliza is the founder of the Hidden World Project, an initiative to educate our community and spread awareness about human trafficking and how to recognize the tactics used to ‘lure’ vulnerable individuals into becoming victims. The statistics Eliza has shared on human trafficking are alarming and hit home even here in North Grenville. Eliza has started a crucial conversation and is making an impact.

Exemplary Work in the Community (Adult, 26 – 55 years): Diana Fisher

As a regular columnist for the Kemptville Advance, and former radio personality at Juice FM/Moose FM, Diana Fisher is well-known in the community and has always used her public platforms and social media presence to expand her volunteer efforts and raise awareness of local issues impacting the North Grenville community.

Volunteering regularly with Salvation Army and supporting initiatives such as the Kettlebell campaign, volunteering as emcee for events such as the Kemptville District Hospital Auxiliary Hey Day fundraiser, and the North Grenville Sports Hall of Fame, volunteering at KemptvilleLive Music Festival, and the Kemptville Youth Centre Book Fair, Diana is a familiar face for many in the community.

Exemplary Work in the Community (Senior, Age 56 and older): Neil Whyte

Neil Whyte has made a tremendous volunteer contribution to the North Grenville community with active roles on the Oxford Mills Community Association and the Heritage Committee - in addition to the various events and festivals and other charitable projects. His dedication to heritage, arts and culture through his volunteer efforts, from staging, lighting and engineering for community events including Canada Day, community picnics and the extensive lighting of Maplewood Park at Christmas.

Neil always steers a group back to the core values of our community by highlighting the importance of supporting local businesses, charities, individuals and by reminding everyone that volunteerism is about community support, human kindness, and heartfelt generosity.

Exemplary Work in the community (Group): Kemptville Pride (Holly Brown, Founder and 2021 Board

In 2019, Holly Brown served as a major catalyst in organizing North Grenville’s first Pride Parade - which was a very positive, family friendly and fun event. Through a lot of energy, dedication, and collaboration with many other volunteers, this success led to the formal establishment of Kemptville Pride. As one of the early founders, Ms. Brown’s efforts were instrumental in creating space and momentum for others to come forward.

Kemptville Pride Exemplary Work in the community

The priority of Kemptville Pride is to support and provide education, promotion, networking opportunities and outreach in support of the LGBTQ2 community and its supporters. Kemptville Pride, under the guidance of a committed and passionate Board of Directors, has grown into an incorporated non-profit, that has solidified funding that will enable them to build a solid foundation and structure so that they can continue their work well beyond having a parade every June. Kemptville Pride recently began the Safe Place Program which allows residents, businesses and organizations to assist victims of hate-motivated crimes and incidents by providing secure locations for victims to report a crime and get assistance, along with the various other events and initiatives over the past few years.

Health and Wellness (Adult, 26 to 55 years): Rebecca Cronk and OmShanti Melanie Charlebois (Joint Award)

During the COVID-19 lockdowns, Rebecca Cronk offered the community virtual live training sessions via zoom or on Facebook Live, in addition to several shorter videos and weekend challenges for participants of all ages and fitness levels. These classes were all free and designed so that no gym equipment was required. Rebecca also volunteers as the strength and conditioning coach for our very own Kemptville 73s. Despite the impacts to her business due to the COVID restrictions, Rebecca has continued to remain positive, lead by example and find ways to give back to the community.

The Co-Recipient in this category was OmShanti, also known as Melanie Charlebois. OmShanti has been a pillar in the health and wellness industry in North Grenville for many years, and most recently by bringing awareness to the wellness aspects of yoga in North Grenville through the inaugural Surya Yoga Festival held on Kemptville Campus last year.

Health and Wellness (Group): ParticipACTION Working group (Municipal Health Wellness & Fitness Advisory Sub-Committee)

Debbie Allingham, Nick Charman, Tanya Deans, Stacey Dickson, Rick Gerein, Darryl Kielec, Robert Matheson, Phil Mosher

In April of 2021, members of the Health, Fitness and Wellness group made the bold decision to participate in ParticipACTION’S Most Active Community Award - for the first time in North Grenville’s history.A subcommittee was formed to plan, strategize, and promote our formal entry into the contest, which was a way to highlight the value of active living.

This Committee, alongside North Grenville’s municipal communications team, local media (particularly the NG Times), teachers from various schools, fitness studios, childcare centres, clubs and businesses, rallied, put up signs, walked, ran, worked out, held dance parties (way to go Madisson Montessori!), marathon events (thank you Tennis Club!) and much more. Together, we helped cajole kids to do phys-ed classes online, got them out of the house after months of online learning, held neighbourhood or friends & family contests on the Participation app – all so that we could track our steps, movement and activities.

All of this effort (and a lot of sweat!) ultimately lead to North Grenville being crowned Canada’s most active community!

Heritage (Group): Burritt’s Rapids Community Association

The Burritt’s Rapids Community Association is governed by a volunteer Board of Trustees who are elected from the community to manage the Burritt’s Rapids Community Hall and act as a voice for the hamlet of Burritt’s Rapids. The Hall was built in 1855 by John French and operated as a general store. In 1935, Casey Swedlove sold the hall and its property to the community and since then it has been run as a non-profit facility. In 1984, the hall was designated under the Ontario Heritage Act as being of architectural and historical value. The dedicated work and strong advocacy of the Association is instrumental to supporting Heritage in the Burritt’s Rapids Community.

Recreation Sport and Leisure (Adult, 26 to 55 years): Mark Robinson

Mark Robinson is a lifelong resident of Bishop’s Mills, and his house faces the Bishop’s Mills Community Park where Mark played as a child: T-ball and softball in the summer and skating on the rink in the winter. His father, Mervin Robinson, used to help flood the rink when Mark was growing up. Mark has taken over the reins from his father and looks after the Bishop’s Mills Outdoor Rink - often staying up late on cold nights to lay down an extra layer of ice, or to shovel the snow off the rink so kids can play.

Mark’s volunteer service has made a huge impact on the Bishop’s Mills community. Mark has been a strong advocate for the park in Bishop’s Mills and worked tirelessly with the Municipality to improve the area for the ice rink. Mark’s work has contributed to giving the community the opportunity to be more active. It has become a destination for visitors from afar, keeping Bishop’s Mills on the map, and perhaps being an inspiration for other communities to create rinks of their own.

Recreation Sport and Leisure (Senior, 56 and over): Sarah Herring

Sarah Herring has generously volunteered her time over many years in support of the Ferguson Forest Centre Corporation and the Friends of the Ferguson Forest Centre, acting as a champion for active trails and preservation. More recently, she has worked tirelessly to bring to fruition the Kemptville Winter Trails project, creating cross-country ski trails in Ferguson Forest Centre for the first time in North Grenville for all to enjoy, and by fundraising for the purchase of a trail grooming machine.

Youth (Group): The Oxford Mills Sisterhood of Guides

The Oxford Mills Sisterhood of Guiding has been a successful youth group in the community for a number of years now. The leaders work tirelessly without much recognition, providing a safe, inclusive and challenging program for youth members.

The group has accomplished so many amazing things each year such as participating in the Earth Day Garbage Cleanup Challenge, Snowarama Breakfast to raise money for Easter Seals, Oxford Mills Tree Lighting and Carol Singing, Operation Christmas Child, various Food Drives, and many more initiatives.

2022 Civic Award Recipients

Arts and Culture (Senior, 56 years and older): Karyne Besso

Karyne Besso took the lead role for coordinating the Barn Quilts during the International Plowing Match 2022. She researched barn quilts, ordered a reference book, sourced supplies for the workshops.
Karyne’s contribution provides an important legacy to the IPM and the barn quilts will live on through our communities. Karyne’s passion may have even brought in a few new people to the quilt guild community!

Arts and Culture (Group): Bubba and Bugs – Scott Godwin and Luc Vincent

Both Scott and Luc have done much for North Grenville by creating a safe space for 2SLGBTQIA+ individuals and their allies to gather for arts events. Some of the cultural events hosted at Bubba and Bugs Coffee Shop included, drag nights and queer prom.
In their own quiet way, Scott and Luc have created a place where all members of the 2SLGBTIQ+ community and their allies feel safe to gather. By letting people know they are not alone, they have fostered pride in living one’s true identity. Living authentically allows every person in the community to feel as though they have a voice and that they matter too.

Environment (Youth): Phoenix Shaw

The Environment award goes to one of our canine friends in the community. Phoenix is a young German Shepherd who consistently demonstrates his concern for our local environment by picking up garbage.
In his 27 months of living in Kemptville, Phoenix has collected the equivalent of 2 garbage bags of litter. Once he retrieves a piece of garbage from the ground during his walk, he faithfully carries it the remainder of the walk until they reach the garbage can and carefully drops it so that his owner can then place it in the garbage.

Exemplary Work in the Community (Youth, 25 years and younger): Amanda Leang

Amanda is a Grade 12 student who has volunteered in many capacities in North Grenville. Some of her volunteer work includes participating in the Mayor’s Youth Advisory Committee and the 2022 Buskerfest organizing committee.
She has also fundraised for local charities including Big Sky Ranch and Jump Start. Her presentation to 100 Women Who Care resulted in Jump Start being the selected fundraiser.
Amanda has demonstrated that it is not only adults who get involved in raising funds and organizing events, but youth are not only just as capable, but their involvement help build a strong and dynamic community.

Exemplary Work in the Community (Adult, 26 to 55 years): Mary-Anne Leang

Mary-Anne is a truly an exemplary community volunteer. Her enthusiasm, organizing, experience, patience, compassion and willingness extends into everything she does for North Grenville!
Mary-Anne has been involved in a wide variety of community events and is part of a dynamic duo with the Oxford Mills Sisterhood of Guiding.
She is also co-owner of Kemptville Infinity (who are coincidentally, notorious for being involved in the community). On top of all her incredible volunteer and community work, she has fostered 18 children.

Exemplary Work in the Community (Senior, Age 56 and older): Anna Van Adrichem-Rochon

Anna is committed to her community and is active in the Toastmasters Club, Friendship Force, and Probus. She is a member of the Rotary Club and has served as a Canadian Blood Service volunteer.
Anna's volunteer commitments have made a tremendous impact. During her time on the Board of the Kemptville District Hospital Foundation, she helped raise $800,000 for new clinics at KDH.

Heritage (Senior): Kenneth Mews

Ken has been involved in many aspects of volunteerism in this community since he moved to Kemptville more than 25 years ago. His volunteer work in the last 10 years has been mainly focused with the North Grenville Historical Society (NGHS) where he has served in the role of Vice President, President and now Past President.
He was instrumental in the amalgamation of the Kemptville District Historical Society and the Oxford on Rideau Historical Society into what is now known as the North Grenville Historical Society in 2001.
Through Ken's work with the NGHS he has helped arouse and stimulate public interest in the heritage and history of the people and places of the North Grenville area.

Health and Wellness (Group): Peacock Family

The Peacock Family have organized fundraisers in support of Saunders Country Critters, CHEO, and The Adam Harlow Foundation to name a few.
Every year, the Peacocks put on a charity BBQ, where they selflessly provide all of the food, manpower, and time to put on a charity BBQ, and split the proceeds between CHEO and Beth Donovan house. They have raised thousands of dollars over the years.
They are some of the community’s unsung heroes – who put in the time and effort without wanting or asking for praise.

Recreation Sport and Leisure (Adult, 26 to 55 years): Bo Lapointe

Bo has been a key volunteer for the eQuinnelle Outdoor Rink (ODR) since its inception. He is focused on engaging with the community in many ways, and in this case by improving community recreational resources and to help maintain the spirit of hockey during the winter months in the community.
In addition to Bo's commitment to the ODR in eQuinnelle, this past winter season he was committed to delivering meals and food to less-fortunate families and individuals during the Holidays.
Bo's impact in the community has helped create a contagious sense of togetherness that motivates others, to take more action and become involved in growing the community particularly in recreation.

Youth (Adult): Jennifer Mitchell

Scouter Jen as she is known by many youth and fellow Scouters has been volunteering with Scouts Canada for over 15 years. Jen has been an exemplary group commissioner to the North Grenville Scouts and has mentored, trained, stepped in and stepped up wherever and whenever she is needed.
Whether its organizing camps, bonfire nights, or arranging floats for the Santa Claus Parade – to name a few, she does it with a smile, positively and with incredible patience. Her contribution to Scouting is endless.
The youth she leads, and the Scouters she mentors, will all build life changing leadership skills and confidence due to her contributions.

Youth (Group): North Grenville Rainbow Youth Alliance

Like so many organizations, it is often a select group of people who turn their passion into action to help create change. Melissa Button and Molly Morgan were just those people who saw the need for a queer-based youth group and established the North Grenville Rainbow Youth Alliance. They turned their passion into reality by helping to create a community space for youth and their families.
Through the Rainbow Youth Alliance, Melissa and Molly have been able to help amplify youth voices and advocate on behalf of local youth – especially those who don't feel safe or have the space to be their true self.
They have also organized many events for our youth such as:
- Educational workshops on safe sex for 2SLGBTQIA+
- Youth Self Defense Classes (in partnership with Boss Thai)
- Suicide Intervention Skill training
- Hosted Drag shows
Through these events, Rainbow Youth Alliance has helped Kemptville youth feel safe and accepted within our community.

Seniors (Group): Seniors’ Community Services Transportation Services Volunteers

This group of 26 dedicated volunteers provides access to critical transportation to medical and life-sustaining appointments that support seniors and adults living with physical disabilities in North Grenville.
Over the last year, this group of volunteers has provided:
2069 rides, driven 88,093 km, and given a remarkable 11,022 hours of volunteer time.
The volunteer drivers are the backbone of this service, without them it simply would not be possible to impact the lives of hundreds of older adults with access to the basic necessities that transportation provides.