In 2014, to honour and recognize the contribution of our membership, PARA Marine Search and Rescue created a series of awards. The goal of these awards was not simply to honour or recognize achievements on the water, no, it was designed to truly encapsulate the true spirit of “volunteerism”, the passion of giving all you can with little or no recognition. In creating these awards, we wanted to find a way to capture the stages of contribution our members often go throughout their “careers” on our crews.
There is the initial stage (Rookie of the Year) when they might tentatively push envelope and explore new and unique ways their personal skills could help the organization. Since 2014, the following members have not only pushed those boundaries but in many ways have defied them to provide unprecedented insight and support:
2014 – Cyril Wellman
2015 – Clint Scott
2016 – Brendan Visniar
2017 – Jason Goodyear
2018 – Sandra Karakolis
2019 – Michael Galita
2020 – Justin Tumino
2021 – Emily Cullen / Lorenzo Pistritto
2022 – Jessica Siebert
The next stage is a maturing process (Above and Beyond), one where familiarization levels grows and a member is really able to utilize personal skills and knowledge. Its in these years where their own personal journeys translate into growth and opportunities for the unit:
2014 – Lavan Thirukeetheesawaranathan
2015 – Cyril Wellman
2016 – Duane Judd / Ric Rademacher
2017 – Jillian Gobrecht
2018 – Sherry Willoughby
2019 – Adam Chan
2020 – PARA Marine Search and Rescue Membership
2021 – Justin Tumino
2022 – Off-season Maintenance Crew (Mgmt – Colin Thomson / Jason Brown; Day to Day Mgmt – Duane Judd / Justin Tumino; Crew – Alan Macdonald, Zachery Eyre, Rob Klassen, Cyril Wellman, Paul Darnbrough, Justin Marshall, Marcus Howse, Rob Anderson, Eleonore Edwards and Clint Scott)
The final stage is when we look back, often in awe, and realize the true impact of some of our longer term members. Its not necessarily something we recognize every year as it is very special to us. The Lifetime Achievement Award is our way of saying, thank you for all you have done and all you have meant to our organization. Your legacy and commitment will never be forgotten:
2014 – Rob Anderson
2015 – Al Smith
2016 – Gary Endicott
2018 – Miles Thompson
