Celebrating 25 years of volunteering

By Geoff Ash | April 20, 2011

The Student Volunteer Bureau celebrated the 25th anniversary of its Volunteer Day Awards ceremony recently.

Special recognition certificates were presented to acknowledge the volunteers of 20 Memorial University centres, programs, initiatives and events. Individual awards were presented to students, faculty and staff for their outstanding volunteer contributions.

Among the awards were the Glenn Roy Blundon Award, named after a former student and presented in honour of his leadership and commitment to equality and accessibility issues. This institutional award is presented to an individual who demonstrates excellence in disability accommodation and promotes equality and accessibility for Memorial students with disabilities.

Of the many deserving nominations, this year's award was presented to Barbara Winsor of Distance Education, Learning and Teaching Support (DELTS) by Glenn’s brother, Carson Blundon.

Also presented were the awards for MUN Volunteer Club or Society of the Year (Muslim Society), MUN Volunteer Residence of the Year (Rothermere House), MUN Staff Volunteer of the Year (Kelly Shorlin), the David Kirkland Student Leadership Award (George Furey) and MUN Student Volunteer of the Year (Anna Smith).

A welcome from Dr. Rob Shea, dean (pro tempore) of Student Affairs and Services, illustrated the importance, history and cycle of volunteerism on campus as he recalled volunteering with the SVB as an undergraduate student.

Dave Denine, provincial minister responsible for the volunteer and not-for-profit sector, spoke of the tremendous value which volunteers bring not only to the Memorial University community, but to the entire community of Newfoundland and Labrador.

He remarked that many people are often quick in this province to highlight our resources, such as oil, mining, forestry and the fishery, "but the greatest resource we have is right here in front of us today. You, the young people of Newfoundland and Labrador."

The celebration is among a number of recent and upcoming spotlights on volunteers and volunteerism in the province.

For information about how to get involved in volunteering on campus, contact the Student Volunteer Bureau at 864-4301or svb@mun.ca.


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