The Central Alberta Immigrant Women’s Association has awarded Queen Elizabeth II’s Platinum Jubilee medals to 10 people from the Red Deer area.
The following individuals were awarded for their contributions to the province during a ceremony at Red Deer Polytechnic on Saturday afternoon:
- Jones Adjei, RDP instructor
- Doug Anderson, Peavey Mart Industries CEO
- Helen Andrew, CAIWA president
- Frank Bauer, CARE For Newcomers director
- Choon-Lee Chai, RDP instructor
- William Gabriel, Catholic Social Services settlement counsellor
- Laurie McDonald, CAIWA board member
- Robert Opoku, RDP instructor
- Sherri A. Smith, Town of Innisfail finance manager
- Jan Underwood, CARE for Newcomers public awareness co-ordinator and community educator
“It was exciting and a privilege to nominate these 10 wonderful people,” said Halima Ali, CAIWA executive director.
“As an organization, we appreciate and are humbled that we were chosen to nominate some people from the community.”
Ali received a Queen’s Platinum Jubilee medal of her own a couple of weeks ago from Red Deer-North MLA Adriana LaGrange.
The Queen Elizabeth II’s Platinum Jubilee Medal is being awarded to 7,000 Albertans throughout 2022 in recognition of “significant contributions” to the province, according to the Government of Alberta website.
Underwood said she was honoured to be a medal recipient on Saturday.
“It was nice to be nominated, but it’s even more special to receive the medal,” said Underwood.
“There are many reasons why this is so important. For one, (Queen Elizabeth II) has been my queen for 70 years. Also now I’m nearing the end of my career and thinking about retirement, so it was nice to be recognized for work that I do that is actually my job. Getting out into the community and making a difference is what it’s all about for me.”
Receiving a medal alongside the other nine individuals who were honoured “was really nice” as well, Underwood added.
“It was people I’ve known and that I’ve associated with over the years … so it was really nice to be in this group of people being recognized. It was just lovely,” she said.
The Platinum Jubilee Medal program will conclude Feb. 5, at which point a full list of recipients will be made available.
sean.mcintosh@reddeeradvocate.com
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