33 Seniors honoured with Senior Achievement Awards
Three individual residents and one couple from East Kent have been nominated for the 2024 Chatham-Kent Senior Achievement Award program.
The 33 nominees, including three couples, are eligible for the 2024 Senior of the Year award.
The Senior Achievement Awards recognize and honour older adults aged 60 and older who have achieved significant goals and made outstanding contributions as volunteers in Chatham-Kent.
Members of the public nominated candidates during the March 1-April 5 period. A committee chooses the Senior of the Year from the nominations.
The winner will be announced during the live broadcast of the 2024 Chatham-Kent Celebration of Older Adults on Thursday, June 6.
All nominees will be recognized during the virtual event, which will be broadcast on YourTV, the Municipal Facebook page, and the Municipal YouTube Channel at 10 a.m.
Mary Hill of Ridgetown, Julie Callow and Rhonda McLean, both of Thamesville and Marlain and Larry Wolfe, Bothwell, are the East Kent nominees.
Four nominees are from Blenheim, three from Tilbury, one from Wallaceburg and Merlin, and the other 20, including two couples, are all from Chatham.
The Senior Achievement Awards were introduced in 1988 at the second Blenheim Senior Fair, renamed the Chatham-Kent Senior Fair for amalgamation in 1998 and changed again to the Chatham-Kent Senior Expo & Achievement Awards in 2014.
All nominees received a certificate and were personally greeted by municipal, provincial and federal government representatives during the annual ceremony.
The pandemic forced the awards to be presented virtually in 2020 and 2021.
The Chatham-Kent Senior of the Year Award was first presented in 2012 to Erieau’s George Prins.
Local winners include Morpeth’s Dixie Peters in 2014, Bothwell’s Marion Matt in 2015 and Bob Hamilton of Bothwell in 2019.
A group of 126 seniors from across Chatham-Kent who volunteered at the Chatham-Kent Vaccination Clinic shared the 2021 Senior of the Year Award.
The Chatham-Kent Celebration of Older Adults was introduced in the fall of 2021, and the awards ceremony was changed to a televised event.
The Blenheim Senior Fair, revived in 2022, will be held on Friday, June 14, at the Blenheim Arena. It will feature exhibitors, entertainment, demonstrations, and a free lunch.
Michael Bennett, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, The Ridgetown Independent News
