Media Releases

Honouring extraordinary volunteers: The Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation – Ontario Region’s 2011 Volunteer Awards

April 20, 2011

TORONTO, April 18 — The Cana­di­an Breast Can­cer Foun­da­tion – Ontario Region is thrilled to announce the win­ners of its 2011 Vol­un­teer Awards. The awards rec­og­nize excep­tion­al vol­un­teers includ­ing indi­vid­u­als, teams and orga­ni­za­tions that are lead­ing the way and help­ing the Foun­da­tion build a future with­out breast can­cer.

Cana­da AM co-host and Ontario Region Hon­orary Chair Bev­er­ly Thom­son announced the win­ners on Sun­day at a cer­e­mo­ny at Toronto’s Fair­mont Roy­al York.

For 25 years, vol­un­teers have been the back­bone of the Foundation’s suc­cess. And this year, vol­un­teers found many ways to make change hap­pen, includ­ing rais­ing funds and breast can­cer aware­ness at ice cream nights, uni­ver­si­ty bas­ket­ball games, fun casi­nos, Pink Acces­so­ry Days, Yard Sale for the Cure and the Cana­di­an Breast Can­cer Foun­da­tion CIBC Run for the Cure.

“On behalf of the Foun­da­tion, I want to express how grate­ful we are to the thou­sands of vol­un­teers for their extra­or­di­nary con­tri­bu­tions and com­mit­ment to help­ing us cre­ate a future with­out breast can­cer – they are mak­ing an impact,” says San­dra Pal­maro, CEO of the Cana­di­an Breast Can­cer Foun­da­tion – Ontario Region. “Thanks to their hard work and ded­i­ca­tion, the Foun­da­tion was able to raise over $20 mil­lion this past year and enable impor­tant invest­ments in breast can­cer research, fel­low­ships and edu­ca­tion; invest­ments that will lead to a future with­out breast can­cer.”

The awards cer­e­mo­ny was fol­lowed by high tea. Many guests wore elab­o­rate hats in hon­our of the theme, a Mad Hatter’s Tea Par­ty, which was a reminder of the Foundation’s ear­li­est days, when Mad Hatter’s Teas were major fundrais­ers for the Foun­da­tion.

Win­ners of the 2011 Vol­un­teer Awards:

Voice of the Foun­da­tion Award: Cyn­thia Mul­li­gan of CityNews

This award rec­og­nizes an out­stand­ing vol­un­teer speak­er who rep­re­sents the Foun­da­tion and shares the Foundation’s mes­sage with oth­ers.

Top Fundrais­er – Cor­po­rate Sup­port­er: RE/MAX Ontario–Atlantic Cana­da Inc.

Top Fundrais­er – Com­mu­ni­ty Events: One Run

Top Fundrais­er – Lead­ers for the Cure: Gor­don Hicks

Top Fundrais­ers for Cana­di­an Breast Can­cer Foun­da­tion CIBC Run for the Cure:

Top Run for the Cure Indi­vid­ual Fundrais­er: Amar Tam­ber

Top Run for the Cure Friends & Fam­i­ly Fundrais­er: Team Tina

Top Run for the Cure School Fundrais­er: The Elm­wood School

Top Run for the Cure Women’s Team Fundrais­er: Dream Angels

Top Run for the Cure Cor­po­rate Fundrais­er: Dupuis A la Vie

Erin McBride Run Lead­er­ship Award – New Run Direc­tor: Jane Wil­son

This award hon­ours an out­stand­ing vol­un­teer in their first year as a Run Direc­tor who has demon­strat­ed lead­er­ship, a will­ing­ness to learn and pro­mot­ed team­work among their Run for the Cure Com­mit­tee.

Erin McBride Run Lead­er­ship Award – Return­ing Run Direc­tor: Zina Atkin­son

This award rec­og­nizes a vet­er­an Run Direc­tor who demon­strat­ed lead­er­ship, vision, a will­ing­ness to moti­vate oth­ers and pro­mot­ed team­work among their Run for the Cure com­mit­tee.

Run Vol­un­teer Award: Shay­la Bark­er

This award is giv­en to a Run vol­un­teer in each of the Foundation’s four regions who demon­strat­ed excep­tion­al lead­er­ship, sup­port, ser­vice excel­lence, inno­va­tion and cre­ativ­i­ty.

Youth Vol­un­teer Award: The Elm­wood Eagles

This award rec­og­nizes young vol­un­teers who demon­strate a com­mit­ment to cre­at­ing a future with­out breast can­cer.

Out­stand­ing Vol­un­teer Award: Kathy McKen­na, Jen­nifer Nichol, and Susan Watts

This award is giv­en to a max­i­mum of three vol­un­teers who have shown excep­tion­al com­mit­ment to the Foundation’s mis­sion, vision and val­ues.

Com­mu­ni­ty Group Award: Cana­di­an Interuni­ver­si­ty Sport Women’s Bas­ket­ball Shoot for the Cure

This award rec­og­nizes a vol­un­teer com­mu­ni­ty group that has demon­strat­ed how team­work and com­mu­ni­ty spir­it can help cre­ate a future with­out breast can­cer.

Cor­po­rate Com­mit­ment Award: RE/MAX Ontario–Atlantic Cana­da Inc.

This award rec­og­nizes a cor­po­ra­tion that has fos­tered an envi­ron­ment of vol­un­teerism for the ben­e­fit of the Foun­da­tion.

Cause Lead­er­ship Award Lynn Chap­pell and Dr. Mar­tin Yaffe(from U of T)

This award hon­ours an indi­vid­ual who has great­ly advanced the cause-relat­ed work of the Foun­da­tion through the appli­ca­tion of their breast can­cer knowl­edge and exper­tise.

Jean­nette Hawke Vol­un­teer Recog­ni­tion Award: Deb­o­rah Dubenof­sky

This award rec­og­nizes vol­un­teer excel­lence and a com­mit­ment to advanc­ing the Foundation’s goal of cre­at­ing a future with­out breast can­cer.

25^th Anniver­sary Out­stand­ing Com­mit­ment Award: CIBC

This one-time award hon­ours CIBC for pro­mot­ing tremen­dous vol­un­teerism among CIBC staff since the Foundation’s ear­ly days.

For details about the win­ners, click here.

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About the Cana­di­an Breast Can­cer Foun­da­tion – Ontario Region:

The Cana­di­an Breast Can­cer Foun­da­tion was found­ed in 1986 as the first vol­un­teer-led orga­ni­za­tion in the coun­try devot­ed exclu­sive­ly to breast can­cer research, health pro­mo­tion and advo­ca­cy. Our goal is to reduce the num­ber of peo­ple diag­nosed with breast can­cer, and to improve qual­i­ty of life for those affect­ed.  We direct donor dol­lars to world-class researchers and clin­i­cians who are mak­ing ground­break­ing progress in breast can­cer pre­ven­tion, diag­no­sis, treat­ment and care. Since 2000, the Foun­da­tion has award­ed 450 grants, sup­port­ing research projects and fel­low­ships. For more infor­ma­tion, vis­it: www.cbcf.org/ontario.

To coor­di­nate an inter­view, con­tact Nao­mi Carniol, Com­mu­ni­ca­tions Coor­di­na­tor, Cana­di­an Breast Can­cer Foun­da­tion – Ontario Region, at 416–815-1313, ext. 208 or email: ncarniol@cbcf.org