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Ashcroft/Cache Creek Rotary names 2022 Citizens of the Year

Four award recipients will be honoured at a dinner on May 11
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The Rotary Club of Ashcroft and Cache Creek 2021 Citizens of the Year (from l) Paulet Rice, Al Stott, Marijke Stott, Michaela Aie, Jacob Aie, and Pat Moyer. The 2022 Citizens of the Year will be honoured at a dinner on May 11. (Photo credit: Barbara Roden)

The Rotary Club of Ashcroft and Cache Creek has announced its 2022 Citizens of the Year, and family, friends, and community members are invited to come out and celebrate them (and celebrate with them) at a dinner on Saturday, May 11.

Now in its 18th year, the Citizens of the Year award recognizes people who have gone above and beyond in our region. The recipients for 2022 are:

Ashcroft and Area (sponsored by Interior Savings): Shirley Holowchuk

Cache Creek and Area (sponsored by Royal Bank): Max Beckett

TNRD Area “I” Blue Sky Country (sponsored by the Thompson-Nicola Regional District): Chief Christine Walkem

Student/Youth from any area (sponsored by Rotary): Moira Kopanyas

Rotary Club president Theresa Takacs says that the nomination period ended on Jan. 31, and club members then had discussions about the eventual recipients.

“We had a number of nominations this year, with some really good nominations for all of the regions. It was really, really difficult to winnow it down to one person in each area.”

Takacs says that Shirley Holowchuk is being recognized as a longtime volunteer with many local organizations, where she often serves as the secretary. “That’s a lot of work,” Takacs notes.

Max Beckett, who retired three years ago after many years of teaching high school in Ashcroft, is being recognized for his work with the Cache Creek Cats club basketball team and for the volunteer work — often as a basketball coach — he has done outside of being a teacher.

Christine Walkem, Chief of the Cook’s Ferry Band, is being recognized for her work during the 2021 fires and floods, which severely impacted Cook’s Ferry, and specifically for her work during the reconstruction of Highway 8 between Spences Bridge and Merritt in 2022.

Moira Kopanyas is being recognized for her extracurricular work at Desert Sands Community School, as well as her work with Royal Canadian Sea Cadet Corps #347 Avenger and with Ashcroft Fire Rescue, where she has been a junior firefighter.

Takacs notes that having an annual Citizens of the Year presentation seems to be unique to the Ashcroft/Cache Creek club: “I get together with other Rotary clubs in Kamloops, and no one talks about doing a Citizens of the Year.”

The event used to be celebrated with a lunch, but several years ago the club switched to a dinner, which allows more people to come out and honour the recipients. “It was hard to have family members at a lunch, because people were at school or working. We decided to expand to an evening event where we could really celebrate the individuals.”

This year’s dinner will be on May 11 at the Cache Creek Community Hall, and is open to everyone. Takacs says that tickets will be on sale soon, and she hopes to have them available at the Ashcroft HUB, Royal Bank in Cache Creek, and Interior Savings in Ashcroft. They will also be available from any Rotary Club member, as well as online.

“Everybody needs to be appreciated for their efforts,” says Takacs. “It very much affirms that individual and the meaning of what they’re doing.

“It’s also a way to be grateful for the good things that happen around us. There’s something to be said for the healing impact of gratitude and the good that people do for others. It helps us with our sense of self when we’re grateful for what’s around us.”



editorial@accjournal.ca

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