In our line of work, we come across many champions who deserve to be praised and recognized by the community for their outstanding achievements and service.
Here are just a handful of the stand-outs the Tri-City News wishes to single out as 2021 wraps up (in no particular order):
REID DEMELO
- A Heritage Woods Secondary graduate, Reid Demelo is a former manager of the Port Moody school's senior boys basketball team who's buzzer-beater basket became a viral sensation on the internet. This year, the coach with Down Syndrome was featured in a Ritz commercial for the NCAA’s March Madness college basketball tournament.
TOM AND SHERRY RAMSAY
- Tom and Sherry Ramsay, the owners of Meridian RV in Port Coquitlam, continued with their gifting to the Eagle Ridge Hospital Foundation. In May, the couple donated $100,000 toward the expansion of the emergency department of the Port Moody hospital.
KEVIN LUSIGNAN
- Kevin Lusignan, the executive director of the Tri-Cities-based Community Ventures Society, retired in June. The chairperson of the Employment Roundtable of the Tri-Cities and the secretary-treasurer of the Tri-Cities Community Services Cooperative, Lusignan served on many Tri-City groups as leader of the non-profit organization that helps people with disabilities.
REV. ALF DUMONT
- Coquitlam’s Rev. Alf Dumont, who is of Ojibwa or Anishinaabe descent, donated more than 215 books to the Coquitlam Public Library for its Indigenous materials collection. He gave the publications after the federal government declared Sept. 30 as National Indigenous Peoples Day to commemorate the legacy of residential schools in Canada.
ALANNA WONG
- Alanna Wong, a new resident to Port Coquitlam, crocheted 2,043 poppies this year to raise money for the PoCo Legion branch, collecting a record $5,384 to help veterans and legion operations. “Veterans are very important to me,” she said. “They volunteered their lives and gave so much for our country.”
