2008 Winner – Gordon Collingridge
On Tuesday January 8, 2008 on Parliament Hill the To The Top Canada Award was presented to Gordon Collingridge on To The Top Canada Day. Gordon Collingridge, age 48, showed that Canadians can step up and meet a challenge head on. Gordon is a special-needs adult who showed extraordinary courage by personally going door-to-door and canvassing to raise funds for the fight against cancer. But what is so extraordinary is that Gordon just didn’t canvass his street, or his block, or his neighbourhood, but he knocked on the door of EVERY HOUSE in his home community of Winchester, Ontario (population 3,300). Over a period of several weeks Gordon was “the” volunteer spending 3-4 hours per day, rain or shine, visiting homes. Cancer is Canada’s leading cause of premature death. Based on current incident rates, 44% of Canadian men and 39% of Canadian women will develop cancer in their lifetimes. This marks the first year a disabled Canadian has won the To The Top Canada Award. Gordon Collingridge has shown that when it comes to the potential to make Canada better, Canadians have no disabilities.
Award Founder Chris Robertson had these comments: “Gordon Collingridge is a wonderful example to Canadians that all individuals have the power to do extraordinary acts of positive citizenship. When every Canadian steps up the way Gordon did, to make Canada better, then we will discover the best Canada which is yet to come. Let us challenge all Canadians to follow Gordon’s example and unlock Canada’s potential and commit personally to an unselfish act of positive citizenship of their choice. Canada can be the shining example to the world of how all people can come together in celebration and proactively make this world a place for hope, opportunity and cooperation. This is Canada!
