The Barrie Community Foundation has announced its Order of the Spirit Catcher award recipients, which will be handed out on Wednesday, Nov. 14 beginning at 5 p.m. at the Southshore Centre.
This is the sixth annual Order of the Spirit Catcher Awards celebrating the City of Barrie's most honoured citizen for his service to the community. The recipient of the award this year is Will Dwyer, while the youth winner is Jake Vaz.
William Dwyer born in 1925 in Newfoundland, married to the late Ellen Dwyer and is the proud father of seven kids.
Dwyer is a Second World War veteran who went on to a 25-year military career, followed by another decade in public service. He retired at the age of 60 and began volunteering his time to help the less fortunate with Royal Victoria Regional Health Centre for 10 years as well as the Parkinson's Society for more than 24 years.
Dwyer has also given his time to the Royal Canadian Legion's Poppy Fund for nine years and is also one of the top fundraisers for the Terry Fox Run after collecting $866,000 for the annual event over the course of 38 years. His personal mission is to top $1 million raised for the fight against cancer.
Other awards to date include the Queen's Jubilee Medal, the Paul Harris Award for outstanding contributions for service above self, the Mel Osbourne Fellow Award from the Kiwanis Club of Barrie, not to mention several personal letters from Barrie-area residents with children suffering with cancer, thanking Mr. Dwyer for his hard work and dedication doing what he has been doing for years.
For the youth award, 17-year-old Jake Vaz was chosen. He has lived in Barrie for most of my life, so when he graduated from Bear Creek Secondary School, it was really emotional to leave his city behind.
Vaz is now living in Kingston, Ont., where he is studying at Queen’s University to pursue his dreams.
Vaz started playing chess when he was just six years old and hasn’t looked back since. He was introduced to this extraordinary game through his grandfather and, for a while, his grandfather was like his coach. That is until Vaz started teaching his grandfather things that he hadn’t even heard about.
All Vaz knows and loves about chess is due to the continuous support from his grandparents and mother, for which he is very grateful.
Chess, like any other game, is more fun when you have wide variety of people to play against, Vaz said. The problem with the chess community in Barrie is that there are barely any events to introduce people to the game or to keep people still interested.
If he ever wanted to participate in a major tournament or a chess club, he had to go to Toronto.
His grandma suggested he start his own chess club and make it accessible for everyone within Barrie.
Starting his own chess club was all about having a chance to expand the chess community in Barrie and give opportunities to others. With help from Jane Salmon, manager of children and youth services at the Barrie Public Library and other staff there, Vaz was given the opportunity to create Chess Titans. He ran the chess club for more than two years.
"When I first started the chess club, I would’ve never believed that 20 people on average would attend a session or the lovely comments I would receive from parents and kids," he said. "I thank my family for encouraging me and the staff at the Barrie Public Library for their continued support.
"Having been a volunteer at the Salvation Army, RVH and library, I’ve had some great memories and have learned so much through others."
