Leaders of Tomorrow is a non-profit organization that recognizes youth ages 8 to 21-years old for excellence in volunteerism. Leaders of Tomorrow has been operating in Wetaskiwin since 1996.
Lynn Croft with Leaders of Tomorrow Wetaskiwin says that, “it would have been our 25th annual ceremony in 2020.”
Croft says unfortunately the nominees of from 2020 haven’t been formally recognized yet due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Once nominees were finalized for the awards, the Leaders of Tomorrow committee decided to hold off on the regular ceremony until the pandemic settled more, unfortunately it did not and more regulations were put in place province wide.
Nominations are organized by age category for the awards.
Community members can send in nominations on behalf of the nominees which will then be anonymously reviewed by an anonymous selection committee that will choose a representative in each age category.
Regularly there are 20-40 total nominations every year. In 2020 there were 39 nominees.
This year there will be no ceremony to honour the nominees. However, all the nominees will be printed with their volunteer accomplishments and photos over multiple editions of the Pipestone Flyer in February.
The representatives will also attend a Wetaskiwin City Council meeting in the future, when in-person council meetings are able to run again, and receive their award from Council and be presented in front of them.
Each of the four representatives will also receive $100 to donate to a charity of their choice.
“It’s sad that we can’t recognize the other 35 except in the paper,” Croft says. “It’s very different this year.”
The Leaders of Tomorrow committee has decided that they will not be taking any nominations in 2021 due to the uncertainty of the pandemic, but will resume again in 2022.
shaela.dansereau@pipestoneflyer.ca
Like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter