Collingwood council’s first act of 2020 was to recognize community volunteers at the annual Mayor’s New Year’s Levee and Order of Collingwood awards ceremony.
Six people received the Order of Collingwood and one the Companion to the Order at the ceremony on Jan. 5 at Georgian Bay Hotel.
Town Crier Ken Templeman opened the ceremony with an anonymous quote.
“Volunteering is the ultimate exercise in democracy,” he read. “Volunteers vote every day about the kind of community they want to live in.”
Though the Order of Collingwood and Companion of the Order are the town’s highest honours, each recipient received them and gave grateful speeches with humility as the common thread.
“I don’t usually take a lead role, but I do like to help,” said Larry Hogarth, the first to receive his award during the ceremony. “If friends need a hand, a trailer or some tools from my basement, I’ll be there.”
Hogarth’s first documented volunteer work was in 1969 when he dressed as a clown in the Santa Claus parade. He’s done work supervising the construction of water systems in rural Botswana, served on the E3 Community Services board for 24 years, volunteered for the Special Olympics World Winter Games, is a charter member of the Collingwood Optimist Club and is a member of the Trinity United Church property committee and cemetery board.
Ron MacRae was honoured with an Order of Collingwood for his 30 years as a local volunteer with several organizations including the Blue Mountain Foundation for the Arts, the Taoist Tai Chi Society, the Collingwood Curling Club, and the Collingwood Syrian Sponsorship Committee.
“These friendships that develop from these kinds of activities are priceless,” he said after receiving his award. “We’re in a room full of volunteers, and I’m just one of a huge operation of giving, altruism and compassion.”
Shashi and Eswar Prasad continued in the same vein of gratitude upon receiving their award for decades of volunteer work with the hearing impaired, the Georgian Triangle Development Corporation, and the Collingwood General and Marine Hospital.
“This moment is bigger than both of us,” said Eswar Prasad. “The work of others in this community is a great inspiration.”
The couple has, with their daughters and grandchildren, established the Prasad Family Foundation, which supports community causes, including the hospital.
“Our work is not yet complete,” said Shashi Prasad. “[Through the foundation] we continue our work in the future by our children and our grandchildren.”
David Saunders thanked his family. Both his parents are past recipients of the Order of Collingwood, and he said he couldn’t be a successful volunteer without his wife.
“Volunteering has become a family tradition,” he said. “Collingwood has a proud heritage well-worth working for and I plan to continue.
Saunders has served as a volunteer for several Collingwood events, a director on the Chamber of Commerce, a fundraiser for the Collingwood General and Marine Hospital, and a part of the Georgian Triangle Economic Development Corporation.
Barbara Sharp, a retired Collingwood Collegiate Institute teacher has continued to teach as the choreographer for Clearview Community Theatre, a drama teacher for the Continued Adult Special Learning Experience, and as the director of Burning Bush Theatre for youth in the community.
“The students at CCI and residents of Collingwood inspired me to be the best version of myself, and it was the best decision I ever made,” said Sharp.
The final presentation of the afternoon was the Companion of the Order of Collingwood, which was awarded to Marilyn King-Lawrence, a former Order of Collingwood winner who continued to volunteer in Collingwood through work in fundraising. King-Lawrence has done book sales, bottle drives, an art walk, and more to raise money for local charities like food banks, the Salvation Army, and local animal shelters. She has also been raising money for the Canadian Diabetes Association and Team Diabetes. She sent 30 children to a camp established for young diabetes patients.
She, with the help of a team, has launched an online auction site that operates 24 hours a day, seven days a week, to raise funds for the Canadian Diabetes Association.
“Even though I stand here alone, the award truly belongs to those who support these efforts with me,” said King-Lawrence. “We can’t forget this giving community that makes it even more valuable.”
The Order of Collingwood was established in 1983 and has been an annual tradition since then, being awarded to volunteers who improve the social, well-being, natural, or cultural environment, or recreational character of the town of Collingwood.
The Companion of the Order of Collingwood was first given out in 2003 and is awarded to volunteers who have previously received the Order of Collingwood and have continued to make outstanding volunteer contributions in the community.
