Dawne Mudford the visionary for the Wallaceburg Canoe & Kayak Club and volunteers received the Feature Act Recognition on Monday, October 17, 2016 as part of the Community Development Forum.
The Wallaceburg Canoe & Kayak Club started in May of 2003, as a realization that the beautiful waterway were underutilized and a desire of Mudford to share her paddling enjoyment with others.
The club was launched with kayaks on loan from the Wallaceburg Chamber of Commerce, canoes borrowed from the scouts and a partnership with 4-H. Since that time, through the generosity of the community, the Club has amassed a fleet of canoes and kayaks, and two trailers for transporting them to weekly paddles. Paddles take place in waterways through-out Chatham-Kent, every Thursday from May to September.
At the recognition, Mudford expressed their honoured to receive the Feature Act Recognition and expressed, “that it is wonderful to receive recognition but our rewards come every time we paddle the amazing waterways that Chatham Kent has to offer, while listening to the laughter of the youth that we are padding with. We can talk to our future generation at length about preserving our waterways and saving g our environment, but when we show them what they are supposed to be preserving, it suddenly has an impact on them forever. Nature truly is the best classroom.”
Co-Chairs of the CK Community Leaders’ Cabinet Mayor Randy Hope and Stephen Doig expressed their thanks for helping build Chatham-Kent and create opportunities, for youth that last a lifetime.
The Chatham-Kent Chamber of Commerce President, Gail Hundt, and Wallaceburg & District Chamber of Commerce Chair, Karen Debergh, cited the Wallaceburg Canoe and Kayak Club as an excellent example of how programs like this make the municipality a special and welcoming place to live and do business in. The club invests in youth, has been an activity for resident attraction and supports healthy living.
The Feature Act recognition ceremony was held at the Civic Centre during the Chatham-Kent Community Development Forum, a regular televised discussion forum hosted by the Municipality of Chatham-Kent and TV COGECO. Feature Act is a recognition program of the CK Community Leaders’ Cabinet in partnership with the Chatham-Kent Chamber of Commerce and the Wallaceburg & District Chamber of Commerce, which thanks citizens for building a better Chatham-Kent.
– Submitted photo
