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The Rotary Clubs of Oakville are pleased to announce the six recipients of the 2024 Annual Rotary Paul Harris Fellow Community Awards held at the Oakville Conference Centre January 30th. They are Peter William Barber, Cathy Benbow Plewes, Sybil Rampen, Rohini Sood, Moe Thiyagarajah and Dean Wardak. Community recipients, who are not Rotarians, are recognized annually in this manner as club members believe the nominees’ choices to give back to community are reflective of the Rotary motto of “Service Above Self”. With over 30 years of outstanding service to the community, Peter William Barber, a participant and leader extraordinaire of the Scouts Canada movement attended and organized many camps across the province and around the world. Over the last fifty years, Barber has also put his training and talent as a singer to use in church choirs and community choirs. Many local student bands benefited from his organizational skills. Through his efforts hundreds of young lives in our community have benefited from his support and guidance. Cathy Benbow Plewes is a retired registered nurse and diabetes educator from Oakville. She started “Beads for Africa”, a volunteer charitable project in 2009, after volunteering in Nairobi, Kenya. Benbow Plewes works with two registered nurses and diabetes educators in Kenya – one who cares for at-risk children with diabetes, and the other who runs a nursery school in a ghetto. Beads for Africa designs, makes, and sells jewelry and related items using African paper beads and donated recycled beads. More than $86,000 has been sent to Kenya resulting in improved health and academic success for the children, and support for the bead makers. |
Serving the Oakville community for more than 60 years, Sybil Rampen has been helping people achieve wellness with art therapy through such programs as Art From The Heart. Through her efforts with Community Living Oakville, Sybil has helped people discover their inner artist and create a community based on love, acceptance, and creativity. Rampen has a long-standing commitment to maintaining the Heritage of Oakville. She founded Joshua Creek Heritage Art Centre. It is a cheerful and welcoming sanctuary to those who love art and want to come together to create and grow.
A young entrepreneur, Rohini Sood operates her own business in Oakville. She has dedicated much of her own time over the past several years to fundraise for the Oakville Trafalgar Hospital Foundation. Over the past ten years, she has played an instrumental role in setting up more than 12 events including a run, cinema event and a gala dinner raising approximately $1.5 million. This past year she was co-chair for the Oakville Diwali Gala 10th Year Celebration which raised over $240,000 for the Hospital Foundation.
Moe Thiyagarajah, the heart behind Mo’s Family Restaurant in Oakville, is a community champion. With a passion for giving back, Moe has hosted 13 Thanksgiving fundraisers for charities like Kerr Street Ministries and Oakville Meals on Wheels, offering free meals to 300 guests each time. In December 2016, Thiyagarajah opened his doors to the community, providing low-costs meals, packaging materials, and free party room space for Oakville Meals on Wheels. Even during the pandemic, Moe adapted his restaurant for safety. What sets him apart is not just the delicious food but the manner in which it’s done. Moe and his staff combine dignity and compassion, reflecting his commitment to culinary excellence and community welfare.
In 2011, Dean Wardak became paralyzed due to a car accident caused by his drinking and driving. He now tells his story to people, mainly high school students, to encourage them to make the right choices. This includes making safe choices like not drinking and driving, but also encourages people to choose hard work to accomplish their dream. Now 31, Wardak was able to graduate from college and university with high honours despite being a quadriplegic thanks to his hard work. He also encourages his audience to choose love because love is the solution to so many problems in the world, and love is a big reason why he is doing so great now.
In addition, Rahul Singh, Founder of GlobalMedic was the featured speaker. GlobalMedic has deployed emergency relief teams on 250 missions in 83 countries benefitting 4.5 million people. In 2022, he established a warehouse and food distribution centre in Oakville to distribute food, locally, nationally and globally. Local Rotarians volunteers to help, you can too! Go to https://globalmedic.ca
For almost 100 years, Oakville Rotarians have raised funds through special events to support local area charities and not-for-profits, dispersing financial aid to many deserving organizations and their very worthy projects and initiatives. As well, funds are donated and leveraged to support Rotary International projects that impact the global community in a meaningful way. For more information about Oakville’s four Rotary Clubs visit www.rotaryoakville.ca
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