Executive Council
May 21, 2015

The following statement was given today in the House of Assembly by the Honourable Steve Kent, Minister Responsible for the Office of Public Engagement:

Minister Congratulates 2015 URock Volunteer Award Winners

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in this Honourable House to acknowledge the recipients of the 2015 URock Volunteer Awards. I was pleased to be joined by Premier Davis, my Honourable colleagues, and members opposite last Thursday night as we honoured this year’s award recipients at a special event in Mount Pearl.

The URock Volunteer Awards were established in 2010 to celebrate the remarkable ways youth are giving back to their communities. Along with the people who attended the event at the Glacier in person, the event was livestreamed on our NLYouth.ca website and viewed hundreds of times.

Mr. Speaker, I would like to take a moment to acknowledge the recipients of the 2015 URock Volunteer Awards, some of whom are with us in the gallery today. They are: Courtney Jones of Torbay; Meagan Sampson from Stephenville; Nitish Bhatt from St. John’s; Brittany Tibbo from Holyrood; Mackenzie Dove from Clarenville; Megan Glover from Bay Bulls; Mallory Basha from Corner Brook; and the Youth Leadership Council, a program of Choices for Youth, which is an organization that works to empower at-risk and homeless youth in St. John’s.

The event was hosted by Mike Fardy, and featured live performances by Jenna Maloney, Stompbox, and City on the Coast as well as community booths from volunteer organizations. Award recipients each received an electric guitar, customized by students of the graphic design program at College of the North Atlantic, to celebrate the innovative ways young people volunteer. The following morning, to explore the potential of their prize, award winners were given a guitar lesson by local musician, Steve Maloney.

Mr. Speaker, from raising funds for the Terry Fox Foundation, organizing Christmas food hampers, caring for animals, encouraging child literacy, and preparing meals through school breakfast clubs, youth are finding innovative solutions and giving back to their communities. The URock Volunteer Awards celebrate those efforts and help to remind us that youth are continuously effecting change by looking outside themselves and challenging the status quo. I ask all members of this House to join me in congratulating the 2015 URock Volunteer Awards winners.

Thank you.

2015 05 21                              2:00 p.m.