Tim Bennett was uncharacteristically rendered speechless Tuesday night.
In Toronto for the Big Brothers Big Sisters national convention and annual general meeting, the Prince George agency's executive director said he was blindsided when the event's opening ceremonies began with the presentation of a National Trailblazer award to the local organization.
The award is passed out to the agency that has shown innovation and is leading the way across the country in finding ways to serve more kids, said Bennett.
"It really is just a huge honour for our agency," he said, noting that in the eyes of others, the Prince George initiatives such as the community shuttle and brand new Rotary Clubhouse were gambles.
"I don't see it as a risk but to a lot the the idea of putting up capital money to do something outside of the normal could be considered risky," he said. "We're celebrating 35 years in Prince George and these are things we felt we need to do to serve more children and make sure we're around for another 35 years."
The community shuttle program, which provides licenced shuttle service in the city, was sponsored by Integris Credit Union, Save On Foods and Trimline Sign Crafters. The booking rate for the service (they charge $60 per hour) goes back into Big Brother Big Sisters programming.
"We had a very successful first year with the program resulting in additional revenue coming in to support our programming and we're excited to say we're serving more kids in Prince George than we ever have before," said Bennett. "We're up 79 per cent in the number of volunteer applications that are coming in."
Last year Big Brothers Big Sisters Prince George served a little more than 250 kids and is on track to reach more than 300 this year, Bennett said.
Two week ago, the doors opened on the new Rotary clubhouse, which was supported in part by the proceeds from February's well-attended Taste of India fundraiser.
"It is quite an honour to be recognized with this national award but it is really the community's reason to celebrate because we could not have done it without the support of everyone else," said Bennett.
Because it's such a team effort, Bennett, who is in Toronto until the end of the week, said he wished that his entire staff and board of directors could have been there to receive the award.
"I'm looking forward to bringing it home," he said.
