A LOCAL Kinsman is the first here to get a national award for his community service and volunteerism.
Patrick McIntyre received the Hal Rogers Fellow award, the highest award from the Kin Canada Foundation, for his leadership, accomplishments and community endeavours at a dinner here in October. He received a medal and special pin.
“It was a great honour. It really meant a lot to me to have my peers recognize my contribution to Terrace and to the Kinsmen provincially and all my volunteer work I’ve done over the last 20 years. To be recognized that way is something quite special,” said McIntyre.
The Kinsmen organized a special formal dinner for him; he knew there was a dinner but thought it was a going away party because he and his wife Diana Braathen are moving to Vancouver.
McIntyre has been with the Kinsmen since 1997 and has volunteered in the community since 1994.
He joined after Kinsman Bruce Martindale invited him and several others to join.
“I just found that the camaraderie and friendships there. I like to be involved with group that wanted to contribute with the community and socialize and be around people with similar [ideas to] help the community,” said McIntyre about why he joined. “They’re good people that want to use their spare time constructively and at the same time be around people who want to do the same kind of work. It’s a really welcoming and enriching environment to be involved in.”
Being part of the Kinsmen complemented his work with Terrace Little Theatre: he learned how to chair meetings, run projects through that helped when he was president of the theatre for three years, he said. Several Kinsmen have gone onto municipal politics and it’s a good place for young people to learn how to contribute to the community in a safe and welcome environment, he said.
McIntyre has organized fundraisers and been involved in communications. He will help new members with advice for the protocols and to help out as volunteers when he can in Vancouver.
He works at Service Canada here and has been transferred to Vancouver where he says he will join the Kinsmen there. McIntyre grew up here.
“I have cherished my time here. I love Terrace,” he said, adding that his family, friends, Kinsmen and the theatre have been a huge part of his life.
The Hal Rogers Fellow (HRF) program recognizes individual Kin, Associate Members, alumni, and non-Kin who, by their leadership, accomplishments and community endeavours, have demonstrated the high ideals to which Kin Canada Founder Hal Rogers was committed.