Larry O’Brien and Debbie O’Brien Named Ottawa’s Community Builders of the Year

May 25, 2006, Ottawa – This evening, United Way Ottawa held its 6 th annual Community Builder of the Year Awards at the Aberdeen Pavilion at Lansdowne Park. The Community Builder of the Year Awards salute our community’s outstanding individuals and organizations who have worked tirelessly and passionately to make Ottawa a better place to live, work and raise a family. In attendance were community leaders from the private and public sectors, and United Way/ Centraide supporters and volunteers, including the Honourable Pierre Poilievre, and Ontario Ministers’ Mike Colle, Jim Watson and Madeline Meilleur.

Among the evening’s highlights was the Community Builder of the YearAward presented to Larry O’Brien and Debbie O’Brien by Mayor Bob Chiarelli . The award honours Larry and Debbie for their tremendous commitment and dedication to our community, and provides a way for the community to show its thanks for their continuing and generous support of numerous charitable and community organizations.

“Through their hands-on philanthropy work and their dedication to various Ottawa charities, Larry and Debbie O’Brien truly deserve the title Community Builders,” said Michael Allen, President, United Way Ottawa. “Larry and Debbie have embraced a because-we-can attitude, dedicated to making Ottawa a better place to live – whether it’s cleaning up an abandoned piece of property, volunteering at the St. Joe’s Women’s Centre or sitting on the boards of numerous charities. Their remarkable achievement as co-chairs of the Saint-Vincent HospitalAdding Years to Live campaign is just one example of their outstanding contributions and commitment to this community.”

The event also celebrated the achievements of many other individuals and organizations with Community Builder awards which are linked with United Way/Centraide’s six Impact areas and campaign activities, including:

• Bell Canada was awarded the Community Builder of the Year Award - Children and Youth for its work supporting and sponsoring numerous children’s charities and initiatives including Easter Seals, Bell Walk for Kids Help Phone, the “Blues in the Schools” program, the Bell Capital Cup for Atom and minor Peewee hockey, and United Way/Centraide and Volunteer Ottawa’s Youth Community Action Days .
• The Wabano Centre for Aboriginal Health was awarded the CommunityBuilder of the Year Award - People in Need and Crisis for its dedication to serving the Aboriginal community in Ottawa for almost a decade. Wabano is playing a key role in the development of the city’s aboriginal strategy and recently, demonstrated their capacity for supporting the Aboriginal community by helping residents of Kashechewan when they were for ced to leave their community.
• The Good Day Workshop Program received the Community Builder of the Year Award - People with Disabilities. Since 1996 Good Day Workshop has been teaching the repair and refurnishing of commissioned and donated furniture to people with disabilities, mental health problems or addictions. The program increases participants’ employability by developing social and marketable skills in a very supportive and sensitive environment.
• The Ottawa Community Loan Fund (OCLF) was awarded the Community Builder of the Year Award - Immigrants and New Canadians. The Loan Fund is a unique financing option for people with the dream to make a difference in their own lives, the lives of their family and in their community. It recently entered into a community lending partnership with the LASI World Skills program, to assist newcomers to Canada with short-term training that enables them to secure employment in a field relevant to their international education and training.
• Centre de services Guigues received the Community Builder of the Year Award - Seniors for its work servicing Ottawa’s francophone senior community. Guigues provides many programs and outlets for seniors to remain active in their community including addressing francophone senior isolation, home visits, transportation, recreation activities, information sessions and regular outings.
• Minto Developments was awarded the Community Builder of the Year Award - Capacity Building as a result of its long-standing dedication to supporting Ottawa-area charities. A prime example is in 2005 to celebrate its 50 th anniversary Minto donated $5,000 per week for 50 weeks to a local Ottawa charity.

“ Because our work allows us to intersect with many people and issues in our city, United Way is in the very fortunate position of seeing outstanding acts of community building on a daily basis ,” said Mark Sutcliffe, Chair, United Way Ottawa Board of Directors. “ The people we work with in the community come together in all kinds of ways – to fundraise, to help, to offer comfort and care, to show leadership and to collaborate. And the end results are nothing short of inspirational, I would like to extend our sincerest congratulations to all of tonight’s award recipients – thank you for making Ottawa a better place to live.”

This year’s United Way/Centraide Ottawa Best Community Campaign 2005 went to Costco Wholesale Canada. Over the past five years, Costco’s overall campaign in Ottawa has grown by 78 per cent, and the year 2005 accounted for 23 per cent of this growth as its campaign topped $272,000. In addition, Costco’s participation rate is one of the highest in our community at just under 90 per cent.

Costco was also one of many companies awarded a United Way of CanadaThanks A Million Award (given to organizations headquartered in Ottawa, which raise $1 million or more nationally) at a pre-event reception. In total 17 local organizations received a Thanks a Million Award, including: Canada Post, the Canada Revenue Agency, Federal Retirees and the Department of National Defense.

Also recognized were federal government workplaces for their remarkable contributions to the community. This year’s Best Government of Canada Workplace Charitable Campaign (GCWCC) 2005 was awarded to the Financial Transaction and Reports Analysis Centre of Canada (FINTRAC). With just under 200 employees, this small-sized agency ran an exceptional campaign with a participation rate of 80 per cent. Not only did they end up reaching their goal – they blew it away by raising 140 per cent more than the previous year’s total.

As a surprise, during the evening United Way/Centraide presented a surprise Community Builder Award to an unsuspecting audience member. The award went to Bill Colby who has spearheaded numerous community activities and fundraising campaigns in Ottawa. Mr. Colby is currently the Board Chair of the Boys and Girls Club of Ottawa, and has been involved with the charity for a number of years. He was instrumental in growing and strenthening the Club’s camping program, enabling hundreds of children and youth to attend Camp Smitty each year on a subsidized basis.

Read the Premier’s personal welcome to the 2006 Community Builder of the Year Awards.

 

About United Way Ottawa
United Way /Centraide Ottawa brings people and resources together in a way that makes our community a better, safer and healthier place to live. By bringing people together from all parts of our community to identify, develop and provide solutions to community needs, we promise that the donations we receive go where they are needed most. In 2006, UW/CO made a record community investment to support 175 projects, programs and partnerships, in almost 100 different community organizations.