Elgin Blakely Citizen of the Year Awards winner - Donna Jebb

 We feel that Donna is the best example of “Service Above Self” in our community.

Current Volunteer Activities:

4-H - South Simcoe 4-H Association

Volunteer for 25 years and counting - Motto of the organization is “Learn to do by doing”

• 4-H Leader for many life skills clubs including cooking, sewing, outdoor, environment, gardening

• 4-H Director and President of the Association

• 4-H provincial association was the first organization in Ontario to have a screening process for leaders, Donna was President of the South Simcoe 4-H at that time

• 4-H Chaperone for kids at events

• 4-H Coach, Driver and Cheerleader for the “Go for the Gold” teams (similar program as Reach for the Top with 4-H based questions)

• Donna would be the first to tell you that she learned as much from the kids as they learned from her and the great 4-H programs

• Donna survived twenty 4-H club members cooking chicken and eggs in her kitchen at one time, that is quite a record

Women’s Institute

Volunteer and member for 30 years and counting - Motto of W.I. is “For Home and Country” - Women’s Institute “works with and for women in rural and small town Ontario offering educational programming and community support”. They “advocate for social, environmental and economic change and work towards personal growth of all women, for home and country.”

• Donna has held many positions at all levels of W.I. including President, Treasurer, Secretary, Public Relations and advocacy for the Branch, District and is currently the Vice President of the Simcoe Area W.I.

• served as a provincial Board member for 3 years

• co-chaired the ladies division of the International Plowing Match in 1997 in Ivy, Ontario

• organized a sewing day to provide Stevenson Memorial Hospital and Southlake with Mammogram tops for women having mammograms at these hospitals

• helps cater special events and organizing monthly speakers for meetings

• cooperated with Town of New Tecumseth to develop a community garden to allow people to grow their own food, this year 10 people are participating, arranged for speaker from Bernardin Jars to show gardeners how to preserve their own fruits and vegetables safely

• on behalf of Federated Women’s Institute of Ontario(F.W.I.O.) she approached Minister Madame Meilleur, Minister of Community and Social Services to lobby for a tax rebate for modified vehicles

• Donna’s name was put forward by the F.W.I.O. to the Associated Country Women of the World (ACWW) to be part of the United Nations(UN) to bring forward information and concerns from all parts of the world to improve lives of people from the world to the UN representatives

• ACWW has consultative status at the UN and is working towards achieving the 8 Millennium Goals by 2015, committee members are from Malaysia, Sweden, England and Canada, there is also an agricultural committee that supports work of women in developing countries, the committee gives grants to women starting their own farming businesses and cottage industries in the developing world

Accessibility Committee

Member of committee since 2002

• was the first chair of the committee when formed in 2002 and is still on this committee

• organized an awareness day for councilors and sent them in wheelchairs on a scavenger hunt all over town collecting items from businesses, museums etc., the councilors were timed and the best time won, provided on information for Hearing Society, Blind, Diabetics and Brain Injuries to the councilors on that awareness day

• committee bring recommendations to the town council to make our community more accessible for all of our residents
  
  

Physician Recruitment and Retention Committee

Volunteer member since 2004

• Represented agricultural residents of New Tecumseth on the committee

• Help host medical students and touring potential doctors that may come to SMH

• Part of the committee that organizes an appreciation day in May for Residents to show their appreciation of the doctors that have chosen our community

• Part of the committee that organizes the appreciation event in September for the doctors and presents an award to the doctor who has dedicated their life to serving our community

Canadian Paraplegic Association (Barrie District)

Volunteer since 2001

• Started and co-chaired the South Simcoe Wheelchair Relay and in the past 5 years raised over $100,000.00 for our community

• assisted a Wheelchair Relay Race at Beeton Fair to promote the relay in Alliston and increase awareness in the community

South Simcoe Arts Council

• On the SSAC board representing the town as councilor 2001-2003

• Supporter of SSAC and their events

Agricultural Awareness

Donna worked at the Royal Bank for 27 years with most of her career in Cookstown. Volunteering her own time and with the Royal Bank’s permission she increased an awareness of agriculture in our community.

• Each Fall she organized an Agricultural Week to coincide with the beginning of the Royal Winter Fair

• brought locally produced food in to the bank for clients to taste

• asked local John Deere dealer to bring a tractor to the front of the bank and had clients guess the list price for the tractor

• posted agricultural questions on the bank wall for people to look at while in the bank line and had answers when they reached the wicket

• organized “Go for the Gold” competitions for adults at local fairs, the adults try answering the questions that the 4-H members have in their competition, she organized local teams from bank, politicians, chamber of commerce and fair board to participate

• Donna suggested to the Town that the vacant land where new arena is located be used for the Loaves and Fishes program to grow corn for the Canada food grains bank, the council agreed that 20 acres could be used to grow corn

Past Volunteer Activities:

Heritage Committee (formerly known as LACAC)

Committee recognizes and designates homes and buildings of historical significance

• while serving as chair designated Banting Homestead as a Heritage Home

• responsible for making recommendations to the Town for having a façade policy for the downtown stores

• provided information and encouraged awareness of importance of heritage building

Stevenson Memorial Hospital Foundation

Six years as a member of the board

• Volunteered at many events to raise funds and awareness during her time on the board

• Acted as SMHF office staff on volunteer basis when staff was on vacation

Pesticide Committee (Adhoc committee for the Town of New Tecumseth)

• Chair in 2004

• Committee brought forward recommendations to the Town regarding pesticide use

• Province came out with guidelines regarding pesticide use and Donna as part of the committee continued in an advisory capacity

• Committee held forums for the residents regarding pesticide use and information about the new Provincial Guidelines

Tecumseth North School Parent Volunteer

• Treasurer of parent volunteer group

• Volunteered to do yard duty until school board changed rules and insisted that people doing yard duty must be paid instead of the money going directly to the parent volunteer group to use for the students and school’s benefit

Beeton Athletic Association

• Helped with food for car draw events, hundreds of pounds of potato salad and beef have been prepared by Donna over the years that her son was in hockey
  
  

Hall of Fame Award 2004

• Donna was inducted into the Alliston Herald’s Hall of Fame in 2004