With her small acts of kindness and her community efforts, Tammy Southern has inspired and improved lives throughout the Westerose/Lakedell community. There is no doubt that Tammy has made our community a better place, and that is why she should be this year’s recipient of the Good Neighbour Award.

All of Tammy’s contributions to our community (not all of which could possibly be mentioned in this nomination write up) have been significant and long lasting. Most people that know Tammy, along her daughters, Saddie and Hope, know that, not only are they great family members, that are always supporting their relatives by lending a hand whenever they can (i.e. taking a load of wood to her parents, helping a relative wash windows, etc), they are also wonderful neighbour/community members. They are exactly how I would want the Westerose/Lakedell community to be described – caring, energetic and friendly. They are role models for how to be a great neighbour. Moreover, they are prime examples of how members of a neighbourhood can build a warm and welcoming community.

Tammy has always been an integral part of our community. For years, she has been helping in the development and delivery of the majority of our community events. Tammy’s tireless efforts have helped to support the organization, delivery and execution of numerous events such as the Annual Family Day Celebration, the Annual Lakedell Bullarama, the Annual Lakedell Fair, the Annual Dinner Theatre and the Pigeon Lake Gymkhana Club. Over the years, Tammy has never shied away from volunteering to help set up events, fed hundreds of people, look after games, organize volunteers, run concessions, or clean up when most people have gone home, etc., etc. These events are vital to our community building roots and connections.

In 2006, Tammy, along with her good friend Stacey Fiveland, were paramount in starting the Lakedell Farmer’s Market. Their volunteer efforts, and personal sacrifice of their personal time, every Friday evening in the summer, helped to ensure the market’s long lasting success. The market has continued to run May – September, consecutively year after year, ever since they stepped up to the plate to get the market established.

As an Educational Assistant at Lakedell School, Tammy is always going beyond her call of duty. She can often be found staying after school to help students with their reading or helping to assist or organize sports teams such as the District Lakedell Falun Pipestone soccer teams. In addition to volunteering her time, she also helps support fundraising initiatives. One the fundraising initiatives Tammy supported was the Lions Playhouse Raffle where she helped to build, varnish and sell tickets for a playhouse with some of the proceeds helping to support Lakedell School.

Tammy also was key to reviving the sport of junior curling in our community. Thanks to her mentorship and coaching, the junior curling club now has a large enough turn out that, there needs to be two nights scheduled per week.

Thanks to all of Tammy’s actions and commitments, Westerose/Lakedell is a better, stronger community. Everyone wants to live in a good community with people like Tammy. Our community has a higher quality of life because of how Tammy interacts with and impacts the lives of others in our community. Thank you Tammy for being so active in our community and being such a great neighbour to all.

-Submitted by Lakedell Ag Society