Outstanding Kingstonians to be honoured with Civic Awards

The City of Kingston will recognize outstanding contributions made by residents to the community this year at the Canada Day Civic Ceremony at 12 p.m. on Monday, Jul. 1, 2019 on the steps of City Hall.

Awards given for dedicated efforts that positively impact the lives of Kingstonians include the Distinguished Citizen award, the First Capital Honourable Achievement Awards, and the Mayor’s Award For Youth Volunteerism.

Distinguished Citizen Award

The 2019 Distinguished Citizen award goes to Patrick Murphy. Nicknamed ‘Mr. Kingston,’ Murphy has a long record of volunteerism and “never stops giving,” according to his nominator. Through hockey and golf tournaments, speaker series and even singing in the band 80s Enuff, Murphy has helped raise hundreds of thousands of dollars for the Boys & Girls Club, Movember, and the Secura Wish Foundation (created by Secura Financial), which funds live experiences for kids in challenging situations. His volunteer contributions to United Way have helped the organization raise millions of dollars for community initiatives. Additionally, Murphy co-founded the Junior Ice Wolves, served as head coach for the Greater Kingston Girls Hockey Association, and is a past committee member for the FebFest Limestone Classic. Murphy is also a past president of the St. Lawrence College Alumni Association, a founding member of SPEAKingston, and a 30-year Knight of Columbus. “Pat never questions whether or not to get involved,” said his nominator. “If he thinks he can help – he does. It isn’t even a decision that he makes – but more of a natural reflex that is ingrained within.”

First Capital Honourable Achievement Awards

First Capital Honourable Achievement Awards will be presented to Nadia Luciuk, Terry Snider, and John and Heather Price.

Nadia Luciuk, former teacher and principal, is the founder of the Maky Ukrainian Dance Ensemble and associated childrens’ dance group. She has spent 50 years as a volunteer dance teacher and organizer of the Lviv, Ukraine Folklore Festival. Luciuk is a member of the Ukrainian Canadian Club of Kingston and the Kingston Branch of the League of Ukrainian Canadians, as well as a dedicated community activist and promoter of multiculturalism in Kingston.

Terry Snider has brought music into the lives of many in the Kingston community while serving as president of The Joe Chithalen Memorial Musical Instrument Lending Library (Joe’s MILL) and is a co-founding Sistema Kingston, an orchestra for youth at risk. Snider has put in countless hours of his own time to grow Joe’s MILL, which now offers 6,000 free loans of 950 instruments a year and has recently partnered with the Kingston Frontenac Public Library to share its database of instruments and provide expanded access to residents. Snider has also volunteered with the Lviv, Ukrainian Folklore Festival for 25 years, and with Victim Services for 10 years. As his nominator wrote, Terry has “made Kingston a better place.”

John and Heather Price have been volunteering in the community for 31 years. In 2014, John was nominated for Outstanding Volunteer Fundraiser by the Association of Fundraising Professionals. The Prices are widely known for their support of Kingston’s military families — their initiatives include organizing the November Remembrance Day game supported by RMC and the February Military Appreciation game supported by CFB Kingston. As a result of their efforts, the Kingston Military Family Resource Centre received increased donations and John was named honorary director of fundraising for the organization. The Prices received the Base Commander’s Citation and the RMC Commandant’s Commendation for their strong military support and were invited to the 2019 Army Ball. The Prices also organized the 2018 Corvette Invasion, attracting 300 Corvette owners to Kingston and giving a huge economic boost to the city.

Mayor’s Award for Youth Volunteerism

The 2019 Mayor’s Award For Youth Volunteerism is awarded in three categories. Lylia Essaddam will be recognized in Grade 5 To 8 Category, Aidan Tomkinson was chosen for the Grade 9 To 12 Category, and Bibi Imre-Millei won the award’s Post-Secondary Category.

Ten-year-old Lylia Essaddam decided to help homeless people in Kingston by making and selling greeting cards with gnomes painted on them. Essaddam called the project Gnome for a Home, and raised $3,000 in three months. She donated the funds to a charity that provides low cost, nutritious meals to those in need. Essaddam launched the effort again this Mother’s Day to support Loving hands Kingston and The Shoebox Project for Women.

KCVI student Aidan Tomkinson has organized a number of efforts at her school including a Relay for Life event, the KCVI Feminist Conference, a “Love Campaign” to lift the spirits of students and address anxiety following online bomb threats made to the school, and a weekly Climate Strike to bring attention to the need to address climate change. Tomkinson has also organized walkouts to protest changes to the sex education curriculum and school funding, and regularly connects with Climate Involvement members around the province to find new ideas to educate people on protecting our climate. “Aidan is always concerned with the well-being of all people in her world,” said one of her nomiators. “She regularly reflects on ways she can bring positive changes to our local and global community.”

Bibi Imre-Millei was named 2018 Volunteer of the Year by the Sexual Health Resource Centre, after developing all the training for more than 40 incoming volunteers. As an extension of her work as a research assistant at the Centre for International and Defense Policy’s Gender Lab, Imre-Millei helps the Queen’s University’s Women in International Security group mentor young women seeking careers in international peace and security. She  organized a conference which brought together military members, policy consultants, students, and academics from Queen’s, Royal Military College, and many more research institutions to shed light on the role of women in peace and security. Imre-Millei was also a Marketing and Events Coordinator for the Queen’s chapter of Love Without Boundaries, director of the Right of Reply podcasts, and assistant editor for The Observer. As her nominator wrote, “The work Bibi does is often demanding.”

Community members are invited to join in celebrating the award recipients’ efforts on at City Hall on Monday, July 1, 2019.

“I’m regularly inspired by the incredible people that devote themselves to making Kingston a better place to live, said Mayor Bryan Paterson. “I believe this is what makes Canada so amazing and so it’s very fitting that we honour some truly remarkable Kingstonians during the Canada Day Civic Ceremony.”