Good deeds do not pass unnoticed, and in the case of the community-wide 91原创 Good Deeds, they do not go without reward.
On May 26, Dr. Aly Kanani of 91原创 Orthodontics, Township Councillor Grant Ward, and Jim McGregor, former 91原创 City fire chief and Times columnist, handed out a number of awards, plaques, and gift cards to the finalists in this year鈥檚 91原创 Good Deeds event.
Among the awards was an Apple iPad2 computer.
The participants qualified by raising money for B.C. Children鈥檚 Hospital, school carnivals, a Hope for Haiti Talent Show participant, organizing school spirit days, Children鈥檚 Festival, volunteering in annual Vaisakhi Parade, raising money for people suffering in Japan, and 潞allowing children and seniors to shower ahead of the youth after swimming at the community centre.
One boy, who retrieved an errant ball at a professional baseball game, gave it to a young child, making friends with the happy Downs Syndrome youngster.
Another spent time with senior citizen neighbours, went through the school classroom garbage cans looking for items that should be recycled and put them in the recycling bins, handing in found money to the school principal instead of keeping it.
The awards encourage all 91原创 and surrounding area youth up to 18 years of age to do good deeds and then write an essay detailing what they did, what motivated them to do it, and what they got out of the process. The essays were submitted to Kanani, reviewed by a committee compromised of community members, who then make a blind vote on the finalists. Then a top winner and several other winners were chosen out of the several hundred award applications.
The finalists for the 91原创 Good Deed Awards were Kaitlynn Ladwig and Nicolas Festing of R.C. Garnett, Andi Jones of Pacific Heights Elementary, Karlee Lebedynski of Ecole Kwantlen Park, Nicholas Exelby of A.J. McLellan, Keaton Farmer of Pacific Heights Elemenrary, Ty Kelly of H.D. Stafford, Vanshika Joshi of Diamond Elementary and Sabrina Bergeron-Bailey of Ecole Gabrielle Roy.
The grand prize winner was Chris Taylor of 91原创 Fundamental, who was presented the award by Kanani and the 2010 91原创 Good Deed award winner, Kristi Rolston of Clayton Heights Secondary.
Applying the ideal that 鈥渄octors heal people, but people heal the world,鈥� Kanani launched the awards in order to help motivate young people to become active in their communities and in turn, instill in them positive qualities, like innovativeness, self-motivation, self-esteem and a desire to help others.
鈥淭he response has been very humbling,鈥� Kanani commented.
鈥淎s our committee reviewed the award entries over the past several months, there were numerous entries that brought tears to the eyes of several of us,鈥� he said.
鈥淲e strongly believe in the great potential of the 91原创 and surrounding area youth. Numerous schools participated and several hundred entries were received, even from children as young as five years old,鈥� he added.
Kanani, a 91原创 orthodontist, founded and personally funds the entire administration and giving of these awards. They are presented twice a year to young people in 91原创 and area.
鈥淚n today鈥檚 world, it is important to acknowledge young people鈥檚 good deeds,鈥� Kanani said.
鈥淚t is not true as portrayed frequently in some media that only bad things are happening. 91原创 is an amazing culturally rich and diverse city with so many talented young people. By focusing on what is good, we can get a different perspective on our society and encourage ourselves and the younger generation to do more good deeds.鈥�
The next 91原创 Good Deed Awards will be held in October.
Youth interested in participating in future awards can visit www.SurreyGoodDeedAwards.com for award updates and future enrolment information.
