City of Laval to honor its volunteers on May 1

The call has gone out. Community organizations in Laval have until March 2 to nominate a deserving candidate for Laval’s 28th annual volunteer recognition night.

Organized by the City of Laval, the event is being held in partnership with the Caisses Desjardins de Laval and will publicly recognize the valuable support that volunteers gave to non-profit groups recognized by the city over the previous 12 months.

“Volunteerism deserves to be recognized, since volunteers contribute a lot to the vitality of the Laval community,” says Mayor Gilles Vaillancourt. “These persons who are filled with generosity often work in obscurity and volunteer recognition night is the ideal moment to shine a spotlight on their immeasurable contributions.”

Call for candidates
Organizations recognized by the City of Laval have until this March 2 to nominate one of their volunteers who has distinguished himself or herself and whom they would like to see recognized on volunteer recognition night. The awards will be presented during this special event being held on May 1. Candidate nomination forms have been sent to non-profit groups in Laval and are also available on the city’s web site: (www.ville.laval.qc.ca).

Forms must be completed and returned by surface mail by March 2. Each organization can only nominate one candidate, with the exception of the young volunteer category (less than 18 years on March 2), in which case a second person can be nominated.

Candidacies for the Special jury prizes category will be submitted by the city’s community life, culture and communications division. The categories for this nomination include leading organizations and events. The same goes for the six awards in the category Prix reconnaissance − 25 years of volunteering, which recognizes six people who donated their time and efforts to the Laval community over several years.

Selection jury
Selection of the 2011-2012 winners will be done by a special committee made up of nine persons from Laval community organizations as well as from the municipal services. Guy Benoit, executive-director of the Caisse Desjardins du Nord de Laval, will preside the jury.

A new Hosia
Since 2007, winners at the volunteer recognition gala evening have received a statuette known as the Hosia, which is a hand-made porcelain art piece made by Serge Roy and Gregory Schlybeurt. In order to show the importance accorded to volunteerism in Laval through the year, a larger version of the Hosia has been made by the artists. This work, which is 65 inches tall, has been permanently installed in the main entrance area at Laval city hall and will be moved to the Salle André-Mathieu during the gala evening.


After considering the candidacies received, the jury will choose 30 winners in these six categories:
1 Life in the community: 12 awards
2 Leisure and community life: 4 regional awards
3 Sports and recreation: 2 regional awards
4 Arts, culture and communications : 2 regional awards
5 Young volunteer (under 18 years) : 2 awards accompanied by cheques for $1000
5 Recognition award: 6 awards
6 Special jury award (organization and event) 2 awards
 

Selection criteria
The criteria that will guide the 2011-2012 jury are: determination, diversity, and impact and innovation on the part of the candidates.

Admission criteria
1 Having done volunteerism in Laval from March 2011 to February 2012;
2 The person’s candidacy must be proposed by a non-profit group (the organization must be recognized by the City of Laval);
3 The form must be returned duly completed by surface mail before March 2, 2012. (It should be noted that volunteers during previous volunteer recognition nights are not eligible to be nominated in 2012.)
 

Caisses Desjardins’ commitment
The success and quality of such an evening often depends on the support of a generous sponsor. The City of Laval has been able to depend on significant financial support provided by the Caisses Desjardins de Laval, without which it would be nearly impossible to stage such an evening.

“It has been more than 18 years that Caisses Desjardins has been associated with the volunteers night,” said Michel Dion, honorary co-chairman of the event, who is president of the Caisse populaire Desjardins des Grands boulevards de Laval.

“For us it is more than a partnership, it is an opportunity to give thanks for the involvement of hundreds of volunteers who through their volunteerism show that they have the same values as the Caisses Desjardins: personal commitment, solidarity and concern for the well-being of all.”

Université de Montréal and volunteers
Officials from the Université de Montréal’s campus in Laval will be taking part in the volunteer recognition night for the second consecutive year. The university will be offering to each of the two award winners in the young volunteer category a gift certificate worth $1,000 which can be used at the university’s “microboutique.”