On Wednesday, Nov. 8th, the Red Cross presented the Canadian Red Cross Humanitarian Award to award to the family of late, Rotary Club of Charlottetown member, Tom DeBlois, at the P.E.I. Convention Centre. This is the first time, that the Red Cross’ Humanitarian Awards was presented posthumously.
Tom was a very worthy recipient of this award and believed in the Rotary principle, Service Above Self, with involvement in over 30 Community groups and organizations. He was the founding chair of the Queen Elizabeth Hospital Foundation and the founding chair Queens Region Health and Community Services Board, as well as a board member and chair of Camp Gencheff. He also served on the Holland College Foundation and served two years as Chair of the Leadership Gifts Division of the Holland College Partners in Value Campaign. A recipient of the Governor General's Caring Canadian Award in 2000, Tom served as President of the Board of Pat and The Elephant, a Past President of the Rotary Club of Charlottetown, Past Chair of the PEI Division of the Canadian National Institute for the Blind and served as Vice-President-Services for the 1991 Canada Winter Games. He also served as a member of the St. Paul's Church Parish Council. Tom served three years as a member of the Town Planning Advisory Committee in Charlottetown and also served on the Council for Canadian Unity.
In the business community, he served with the Board of the Atlantic Provinces Economic Council, PEI Development Agency, Junior Achievement, and the PEI Market Development Centre.
Deblois worked in the family business, DeBlois Brothers, and from 1986 to 2005 with TRA Atlantic (DeBlois Distribution Centre), after DeBlois Brothers was sold to Sobeys.
That same night, the Red Cross also presented the Young Humanitarian Award to 18-year-old Lacey Koughan of Charlottetown - founder of 24STRONG . Congratulations to both Lacey and the family of Tom. It takes the understanding and support of the families of these special individuals in order them to serve the community in this way.
Thank you to those Club members that attended the dinner. Thank you to Club members, Edna Reid, and Wes MacAleer, for speaking about Tom's impact, at the dinner.
Proceeds from the event go to support Canadian Red Cross services throughout Prince Edward Island.