Rural innovation honoured for excellence

Guelph, Ontario - October 22, 2004 - Rural Ontario's hottest innovations and projects received the recognition they deserve at the 6th annual Awards of Rural Excellence.

The Awards of Rural Excellence- hosted by the Foundation for Rural Living (FRL) - recognize and honour rural communities, organizations and groups who, through programs, projects and initiatives act on their vision of a better rural Ontario.

The following organizations were honoured for their initiatives and commitment to rural development on Oct. 18, 2004 at the Four Points Sheraton Hotel in London, Ontario:

• Winner of the Outstanding Partnership with Business Award: Frontier College's Labourer Teacher Program partners with farmers to offer free ESL teaching to migrant workers on farms throughout southern Ontario.
• Winner Outstanding Rural Youth Achievement: In a community of high unemployment, the Community Futures of North & Central Hastings and South Algonquin's Business Builders Program in Bancroft exposes youth to the merits of self employment.
• Winner Excellence in Formal Co-operative Models: The Progressive Pork Producers Co-operative Limited in Breslau provides a vehicle for producers to capitalize on value-added processing activities beyond the farm gate.
• Winner Excellence in Community Leadership: The R.E.S.P.E.C.T (Resources, Empowerment, Safety, Prevention, Education, Community building and Training) project in North Bay helps women and girls feel safe in their community.
• Winner Excellence in Economic Development: A group of forward-thinking citizens (Trent Hills Economic Development Committee,) from five rural communities take the local tourism economy into their own hands - creating one of Ontario's most popular places to visit.
• Winner Outstanding Philanthropic Action: The Bruce Grey Public Education Foundation refused to allow their Outdoor Recreation Centre to be closed.
• Winner Outstanding Volunteerism and/or Partnership in the Voluntary Sector: Toronto may want to take a look at the Erinsville Recyclers Group in Tamworth - a group that instigated one of rural Ontario's most successful (over 18,000 tons diverted from landfill) recycling programs in the 1990s when recycling was still a concept rather than a reality.

"The winners' stories are about passion, inspiration and motivation," says Michelle Quintyn, executive director of the Foundation for Rural Living. "Listening to them leaves you with a sense of accomplishment and possibility."

The awards were held at the Four Points Sheraton Hotel in London, Ontario on Oct. 18, 2004.

For more information please contact
Joanne Peach, communications specialist
Foundation for Rural Living
Tel: 519 826 3815
Email: frl_communications@on.aibn.com

Background: The Awards of Rural Excellence
The Foundation for Rural Living's (FRL) Awards of Rural Excellence program began in 1999 to recognize the excellence emerging from rural Ontario and to promote those initiatives to other organizations throughout the province. Contribution to community and a view toward enhancing and sustaining the future are the cornerstones of the awards criteria. Enterprises being recognized with each award must take place in rural Ontario. "Rural" includes communities with a population under 50,000. Amalgamated municipalities of small towns where the population may exceed 50,000 are also eligible. Proud sponsors of the 2004 Awards of Rural Excellence program are Pioneer Hi-Bred, a DuPont Company and founding sponsor, The Co-operators, the Province of Ontario - Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing, Union Gas and The Ontario Rural Council.

The Foundation for Rural Living
FRL was founded in 1979 as a non-profit, registered charity. Our mission is to build sustainable rural capacity and enhance the quality of life for rural citizens through the growth and development of community investment in the form of philanthropy, citizenship and collaboration. Various programs and partnership endeavours aim to advance the role and interests of the charitable sector for the benefit of rural communities.

The foundation has initiated and partnered in key programs including The Ontario Rural Council and the Advanced Agricultural Leadership Program. During the ice storm of 1998 we established the Ontario Rural Relief Fund, which raised over $500,000 for rural communities affected by this disaster.

Disclaimer: The Foundation for Rural Living does not endorse or maintain the information contained within the above article, with the exception of news releases from the foundation itself. In all other instances, any questions reagarding the information contained therein should be referred to the author of the news article listed as the source.