NEWS ARTICLE
Island Trails Volunteer Event 2008
November 28, 2008 — Grace Blackette
Island Trails recently hosted a fall volunteer and awards evening at the Dutch Inn, North River. The large turnout of volunteers from across the province was certainly an indicator of the value and interest in the Confederation Trail. Honorable Valerie Docherty, Minister of Tourism brought greetings from the province and expressed her continued support for Island Trails and the trail programs. Jan Meulenkamp wowed the audience with a slide show of the many attributes of the trail as well as many scenes of the flora and fauna found along the trail. Paul Stetson from CrimeStoppers and Wade MacKinnon , Senior Conservation Officer spoke on the value of partnership that both organizations have with the Trail Officer program. Volunteer Phil Arbing provided information on the 2009 cycling plan which includes weekly events in many trail communities across the Island as well as June and October weekend events. The highlight of the evening was the presentation of the Confederation Trail awards by President Denis Dunne and Program Coordinator Grace Blackette. Community awards went to the Town of Souris and the communities of Hunter River and Emerald. All three communities provide many services for trail users. Cliff Ruggins from St Catherines proudly accepted the award for first year volunteer with the Trail Officer Program. Cliff and his wife Anne Marie recently became Islanders and are avid cyclists on the trail. Scott Clark from Marshfield accepted the youngest volunteer award. Scott is a UPEI student but still finds time to perform weekly volunteer duties on the trail. The group award went to Garnet Buell and friends for their continued support for trail events in the Murray River-Harbour and Wood Islands areas. Volunteer Jim Rayner received the TrailWatch volunteer of the year. Chris Wagner and Jason Thistle received recognition for going the extra mile as Conservation Officers in support of trail programs. Tip to Tip certificates were presented to Phyllis MacDonald, Robert Acorn, Frank Curley, Charles Easter, Vicki Holland, Mar Thomson, Sammie Slaunwhite and Deborah Slaunwhite. Several other recipients were unable to attend. Both Denis Dunne and Grace Blackette expressed thanks to the many dedicated volunteers that support Island Trails many programs. President Denis also gave an overview of the Dromore hiking trail that is presently under construction. The evening closed with refreshments.
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