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Inclusion Award

The Honourable David C. Onley, Lieutenant Governor of Ontario participates in local Inclusion Celebration

Kitchener – This evening over 100 guests will gather at the Victoria Park Pavilion at Victoria Park in Kitchener to celebrate inclusion. In attendance will be The Honourable David C. Onley, Lieutenant Governor of Ontario to address the excited crowd and to present Extend-A-Family Waterloo Region’s first annual Inclusion Award.

The Inclusion Award was established in efforts to recognize and appreciate those people in our community who believe that everyone is a contributing and participating citizen in their community. Creating opportunities for people with disabilities to fully participate in and contribute to community is not always an easy thing to do but so many in our community do it on an everyday basis without even thinking about it. These are the people who truly make a difference in the lives of people with a disability.

Extend-A-Family Waterloo Region is excited to announce that Christine Kliewer is the very first recipient of the Inclusion Award. Over and over again she has gone above and beyond to ensure that everyone has access to his or her community. Christine is the coordinator of Customer Service at Grand River Transit and she makes certain that everyone has a voice and an opportunity to contribute and share their ideas when it comes to accessible transportation.

Inclusion is a personal philosophy and a way of life. To some, it just comes naturally and for Christine, she is one of those people. At the end of the day she believes she is just doing her job.

Four other outstanding citizens in our community will be recognized tonight as nominees for this prestigious award.

Also included as part of the evening’s festivities is a performance by The Buddy Choir. This group is a local choir of people of all abilities and all ages (five to 60 years plus). The Director, Lori Maloney Young, was inspired by a choir for people with disabilities that she saw perform at a conference and saw an opportunity for people in our community. This group has been practicing and performing since 2007 and we are thrilled to have them be a part of this special evening.

Guests will also have a chance to hear from Sherry Erb, Volunteer Coordinator with the Kitchener Public Library, as to how inclusion has made a difference at the KPL and Michael Carscadden, a WALES Group participant (Working Adults Learning Empowering Skills – a program offered through Extend-A-Family) is going to speak about what it means to him to be included in community.

We hope this evening’s program will bring hope and inspiration to others. Inclusion is simple. It’s about believing that everyone has something valuable to contribute to our community.