At the February 18 meeting of Madawaska Valley Council, the 2019 Mayor’s Appreciation Award was presented to the Combermere and Area Recreation Committee by Mayor Kim Love. Mayor Love outlined the history of the Committee from its early days when it was led by Cheryl Stanley, and described the scope of its activities. “The Combermere Recreation Committee deserves special recognition in 2019 to acknowledge that throughout its existence this committee has re-ignited community spirit, public participation and pride of place in the Combermere area. The Combermere Recreation Committee has survived and thrived, surmounting the challenges of being self-funded and volunteer driven to produce quality annual programming and events that are attracting participants and audiences from across the Madawaska Valley and beyond. It will be exciting to see how the energy, drive and passion of this dedicated group of volunteers will strengthen and nurture our community spirit in years to come.” Above from left (rear) Andrea Budarick, Sandra Phanenhour, Don Isbister, Bev Stevenson, Shelley Maika; (front) Melissa McCaig, Rita McLean, Nancy Betournay, Kim Love, Paula Schreader
In accepting the award, Combermere Rec Committee Chair Nancy Betournay said, “It is my honour to accept this award on behalf of the Combermere Recreation Committee past and present members. Thank you to our original 2017 Executive, Elaine Schweig, Judy Cole, Sandra Phanenhour, and Paula Schreader for building our foundation on which to move forward. Thank you to Shelley Maika and Ernie Peplinski 2017-2018 for their guidance and commitment to us in their role of councillors in this township. Thank you to our volunteers, donors, businesses and our community’s commitment, because without them it would be most difficult to provide the level and quality of our events. Our Recreation Committee for the past two plus years has been putting on community events and fundraising for the larger goal of what we coin as our “rink project.” This project consists of rebuilding the outdoor covered players benches and penalty box which were destroyed in the tornado of August 2006. It is our hope to have this project completed over the course of the summer/fall 2020. To Mayor Love, Township Councillors and Township staff, thank you for your support in all that we do.”
