The most loving person in Alberta is a two-time cancer survivor from Athabasca who recently lost her mother.
Madena Reimer, 47, won a week-long holiday in Hawaii on Friday, courtesy of Cody and Eva Borek of Stettler
The Central Alberta couple had launched a contest to find the Most Loving Person in Alberta after winning the trip to the Pacific Island themselves. Instead of taking the vacation, the Boreks decided to give it away to a deserving Albertan.
They received close to 20,000 nominations through phone calls, emails and social media over the next few weeks. With great difficulty, they pared the list of candidates down to 10 finalists, then put these names into a hat on Friday afternoon in Stettler.
The draw winner, Reimer, is very active in the fight for cancer awareness and fundraising in Athabasca. She’s one of the founders of a Road to Hope event and was instrumental is setting up Relay for Life in Athabasca. She also participated in at least five Run for the Cure events in Edmonton. In a report from 2012, Reimer stated her team, the Reimer Warriors, had raised $40,000 for cancer research.
She could also use some time away. Her mom died about nine weeks ago.
Reimer was in attendance at the Stettler draw and was thrilled to win, reading her name over the shoulder of the person who drew it from a “Support Our Troops” baseball cap.
Cody Borek said he’d have been happy to give the vacation to any of the finalists, but was particularly pleased it went to such a deserving person as Reimer. “She’s pretty incredible.”