2018 Community Volunteer Award Recipients

AWARD RECIPIENTS

     Lifetime Achievement Award in 2018 is awarded to Don Fraser.
This Lifetime Achievement Award recipient has been tied to the Harbour for over 46 years, having first come to visit his family’s property on Narrows Road, and as an adult, he decided to make it his home.
     His inspiration for leading the charge to beautify Pender Harbour came 18 years ago after witnessing community members come together to renovate the Community Hall in Madeira Park. He knew that by bringing people and resources together, much more could be done to improve the appearance and livability of our community.
      It was at that point that this leader in our community gathered together a dozen or so influential people at the top of the hill in Madeira Park and walked them down the then grey and dingy main drag. He opened their eyes to both the current condition of the place, but also painted a picture of how lovely it could be. And they listened and they believed.
     In 1999 this group would become, under our recipients leadership, the Pender Harbour Growth and Development Partnership which was the precursor our current Pender Harbour Advisory Council. Virtually all of the purposes and goals of the Advisory Council were set to paper by this group nearly 20 years ago.
     When the group needed to spearhead a fundraising drive to help complete many of the beautification projects around the Harbour, they simply put up a sign and over $10,000 of unreceipted donations were received in no small part because the donors knew the money was in good hands. Contributors knew that our recipient’s motto of “It is better to beg forgiveness than ask permission” would ensure the funds were put to good use in short order.
     This year’s recipient has served on the Board of the Community Club for many years, has been active in the Chamber of Commerce, was a founding member of the Pender Harbour Advisory Council Board.
     Not only was our recipient’s reputation and influence in the Landscaping community sufficient to secure Madeira Park as the focus of the UBC Landscape Architecture’s Vision for the Future project, but he also spearheaded and supported the Iris Griffith Wetlands project on Lagoon Road, which is an absolute treasure.
     His skills as a Master Gardener and his landscape supply business positioned him well to take on the task of creating the community garden that is the outstandingly memorable feature of Madeira Park. But this wasn’t enough. He created the feature corner of Madeira Park and the Sunshine Coast Highway. While he’s never kept track of how much money he has personally spent on what he has done in Pender Harbour, he did commented that $11,000 worth of topsoil went into the ground around the community hall. It’s no wonder things grow so well there!!
     This year, the cost of supporting the Garden came from a $2,500. grant from the SCRD and an additional $1,500. from the Pender Harbour Community Foundation. Unfortunately, neither of these sources can be tapped again for the Gardens but our recipient dreams of a summer fundraiser for the gardens, which will involve locals, tourists, and dual citizens in a celebration and fundraiser for this important asset to our community.

      Lifetime Achievement Award in 2018 is awarded to the Egmont and District Volunteer Fire Department [EDVFD]
This Lifetime Achievement Award recipient was originally formed in the early 2000s. The goal was to provide faster/greater fire and medical response to the north end of the peninsula. Equipment and training started to come together in the mid-2000s, with the completion of the fire hall in 2009 by the volunteers. The hall currently has 18 members [and looking for more] and has answered 32 calls September of this year.
     The success of the department was made possible by dedicated local volunteers, and the fantastic support of the Pender Harbour fire department through training and automatic aid [which is still ongoing]. EDVFD has recently been granted a fire rating by the Insurance Underwriters that is equivalent to any comparable hall on the coast and makes fire insurance in Egmont affordable for the community. Again, the support of Pender Harbour is acknowledged in achieving this. The award was accepted by the Captain, Chris Cervenko.

Lifetime Achievement Award in 2018 is awarded to the Pender Harbour Volunteer Fire
This Lifetime Achievement Award recipient was established on May 15 of 1967 with the formation of the Pender Harbour Fire Protection District. With this, the Pender Harbour Fire Brigade that had formed in 1959 turned over its assets which included a fire boat named “Texada Queen” and a fire truck that had been purchased from Sechelt in 1964.
The Pender Harbour Volunteer Fire Department has grown from those early days. With two fully equipped fire halls, one in Madeira Park and one in Garden Bay, five vehicles that do various jobs and up to fifty volunteer firefighters coverage provides for fire, rescue, motor vehicle incidents and medical assistance. There are in excess of 100 calls per year.
The Volunteer Fire Department works extensively with Egmont & District Volunteer fire department and BC Emergency Health Services
In recent years they have begun a junior firefighter program, and several of these former members have gone on to have careers in emergency services. The award was accepted by Bill Gilkes and Bruno Pepin for their respective Fire Halls.

The Association exists to support the vitality of the communities of Pender Harbour and Egmont areas as excellent places to live, work and play for residents and visitors. The Association will provide Pender Harbour and Egmonth areas with a structure that allows residents to identify issues of broad community concern through public forums where citizens can express their views and be confident those will be recorded, researched, prioritized and addressed.