Wiebe up for Award of Promise

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This article was published 14/04/2015 (4158 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Volunteers give their time to their community in many ways, expecting little or nothing in return. But it sure is swell when volunteers are recognized for all the work they do.

Alexandra Wiebe, 17, is one of two Elmwood students nominated for a YMCA-YWCA Women of Distinction Award in the Gerrie Hammond Memorial Award of Promise category for their outstanding contributions to their school and community. The Awards of Promise are made to a young woman enrolled in school who will graduate from Grade 12 in 2015 and include a $2,000 scholarship. Bayley Bird is also nominated in the same category.

“My parents always encouraged me to volunteer,” Wiebe told The Herald.

Wiebe, who is currently in Grade 12 at Mennonite Brethren Collegiate Institute in Elmwood, said she really got started volunteering in Grade 5. At the time, Wiebe’s mother was home-schooling her and her sister. They began volunteering at The King’s School’s transitional program, a school for new Canadian children who hadn’t had an opportunity to go to school in their home country.

“I got involved with peer tutoring,” Wiebe explained, “And helped run a music program teaching recorders.”

When Wiebe transferred to public school the following year, she helped start a lunch program to provide students with nutritious food.

“We knew that to learn you needed to have healthy food,” she said.

Wiebe continues to volunteer in the immigrant community today, spending a couple afternoons a week at the Immigrant Refugee Community Organization of Manitoba (IRCOM) where she helps with the literacy and fitness programs.

“Mostly why I like volunteering with them is the joy I see on their faces,” she said. “Just going to IRCOM, when they run up and jump up on me, it gives me a reason to be happy.”

While Wiebe plans to attend the University of Winnipeg to pre-med and bio-psychology after graduating from MBCI, she said she is hoping to defer her enrolment so that she can take part in a Youth With a Mission program in Newcastle, Australia.

“The stories of the nominees are awe-inspiring ,” Melanie Verhaeghe, chair of the YMCA-YWCA Women of Distinction Steering Committee, wrote in a statement about the nominees. “These women have gone above and beyond to create opportunities for others and make our communities better.”

The YMCA-YWCA Women of Distinction Awards Gala takes place on May 6 at the RBC Convention Centre Winnipeg. Tickets to the event are available at www.ywinnipeg.ca/wodtickets or by calling 204.831.2974.

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