KLRA OUTSTANDING VOLUNTEER AWARD


The Outstanding Volunteer Award is designed to recognize extraordinary people in the Kahshe Lake and Bass Lake areas whose volunteer efforts have contributed to the well-being of their community and fellow community members.  This award will be presented at the KLRA annual meeting.

Essentially, nominees should have:

  •  Contributed to life of Kahshe Lake including but not limited to protection of the lake and its    surroundings, promoting community good will, promoting and/or supporting safe practices on and around the lake, and fostering communication.
  •  Made a significant investment of his/her time and talent for the Kahshe Lake community.

We encourage you to make a nomination

 There are a number of ways to nominate someone:

1.     Download the nomination form (in either PDF or Word format), complete it and mail it in to our secretary at the address shown at the bottom of the form.

2.     Download the Word format, complete it, and then e-mail it to us as an attachment to the e-mail address shown at the bottom of the form.

    For assistance, e-mail us at volunteeraward@kahshelake.ca 

    Nominations are accepted until May 31 of the current year. 

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    8th Annual Award 2020


    Ron Pearson, Volunteer of the Year

    The recipient of this year’s Outstanding Volunteer Award will be no stranger to anyone.  This person has been a cottager at Kahshe Lake since the 1980’s, and then purchased property across from Hilda Island in 1999.   In 2017, he and his wife subsequently sold their water access cottage and purchased another one on Oak Road.

    He has served as a KLRA Board member and took on the position of Secretary for a few years.  However, his real passion is ecology and so he left the board in order to devote his time to his life-long passion.  He is a trained and highly skilled environmental scientist and has eagerly shared his expertise with us.  He has volunteered as our Lake Steward for almost 10 years and has recently developed a Lake Health education portal on the KLRA’s web site. 

    As such he has monitored the quality of our lake and organized hands-on sampling workshops where participants surveyed the living organisms that live in our lake.   He has submitted reports to the Environment Ministry, analyzed the results and made both written and oral presentations to KLRA.  This is where many of you would have come across this person.  His quiet and competent approach has made him a regular presenter at our Annual General Meetings.

    Amongst his other contributions, this person has served as the Secretary for the Oak Road Association.

    Additionally, he is quite an accomplished amateur photographer.  He participates in our photography contest and has won many prizes for his work.  When asked, he willingly volunteered to share two of his photos with us so that we could create stationery items for sale at our boutique.

    I’m sure that by now, almost everyone has figured out who we are speaking about.  It gives us great pleasure to announce that this year’s recipient of the KLRA Outstanding Volunteer Award is none other than Ron Pearson.

    Ron received the traditional canoe paddle and certificate at a private ceremony immediately after the AGM. 

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    Seventh Annual Award 2019


             Lauren Koenig receiving the award from Steve Wild, President of the KLRA.

    This is the seventh year for the  Outstanding Volunteer Award.

    The award consists of three components:

    • 1.     A certificate, from the KLRA, commemorating this honour;
    • 2.     A place in our website’s virtual Hall of Fame; and
    • 3.     A special plaque, representative of all the wonderful things our lake has to offer….a canoe paddle that has been inscribed with the recipient’s name.

    I would like to take a quote from this person’s nomination pages to give you an idea of the impact she has made.

    “This person has more than exemplified the word “volunteer”.  She has set up the Kahshe Lake Facebook page and monitors it through all seasons of the year, making sure people can communicate all year round in an atmosphere of pleasure an friendship.  On this page they are able to check in with neighbours, check the conditions of the lake and exchange information.” 

    Now, I also know that this person has also run her own web-based fund-raising campaign and used the funds to support the KLRA rock marker program.  This is very much appreciated.

    It gives me great pleasure to announce that this year’s recipient of the Outstanding Volunteer Award is Lauren Koenig.

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    Sixth Annual Award 2018


    John Kuropatwa presents the award to Dave Purdon of Muskoka Meats.

    There are many ways for a person to enhance the lives of others.  Some do it by giving freely of their expertise and time.  Others, but supporting community groups through generous donations to those groups.  When someone willingly does this and does so without looking for compensation, that person is considered to be a volunteer.  There are a number of people who do all three.  Our association recognizes their work and each year, we select one such person to be honoured with the Outstanding Volunteer Award.

    This year’s recipient is a quiet and generous man and a strong supporter of KLRA.  Over the past 9 years, he has voluntarily provided - free of charge - thousands of dollars-worth of meat for the following KLRA events:

    ·       The Housey’s Rapids Picnic,

    ·       the Kahshe Lake Regatta and

    ·       the Kahshe Lake Craft Show.

    He explained that he does very little advertising and prefers to help out the community by participating in local community events. These are just a few events that we know about, there are probably more.

    He hosts tours for local school kids at his Muskoka Meats & 100 Mile Store on Hwy 11. He is a strong advocate of the 100 Mile Rule and explains it to anyone interested in hearing more.  Very briefly, the concept of the 100 Mile Rule, encourages people to buy and eat local products and in so doing, supporting local farmers, business people and the overall community.

    Our recipient is a hardworking, humble person, and a very caring and giving community man.  He doesn’t look for recognition, only the knowledge that by his actions, our local community is enriched.

    He is just the kind of person who richly deserves to be acknowledged and a most deserving recipient of the Outstanding Volunteer Award.

    If you haven’t guessed already, we are talking about Dave Purdon.  

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    Fifth Annual Award 2017


    John Kuropatwa presents the award to Randy Craig

    Each year KLRA takes a moment to highlight the outstanding work of one the many volunteers on the lake.  This is a very challenging task since there are so many people who unselfishly give of their time, talent and energy to help make Kahshe Lake a better place.

    The award consists of three components:

    1.     A certificate from KLRA commemorating this honour
    2.     A place in our website’s virtual Hall of Fame
    3.     A special plaque; one that represents many of the fine things that our lake has to offer.  It is a canoe paddle with a brass plaque that has been specially inscribed with the recipient’s name.

      This is the fifth year of this award and I would like to tell you something about the recipient.

      This individual has been on the lake for many years.  When this person moved into their cottage, they immediately set out to restore it to its original charm.  This project was so successful that it was singled out for an award.

      This person has been very active in lake activities and is an enthusiastic booster of Kahshe Lake.  He is a very talented photographer who has used his skills to benefit all.  When the first Rock Marker campaign took place, he donated some excellent photographs to be used as thank-you gifts to the financial donors of the campaign.  How many of us now proudly display these posters in our cottages and homes?  

      This year, he has, once again, volunteered his time to take aerial photos of people's cottages and is donating all the money to the Rock Maker Fund.  Interest in this initiative has been phenomenal.

      This person promotes the lake and it is no accident that two his photographs appeared in National Geographic stories about the best vacation spots in the word.  Yes, his photos of Kahshe Lake were used to highlight Muskoka.

      Recently, he, along with others, initiated the “Ice Out” contest.  This has quickly grown to be a prominent and fun winter activity that everyone in KLRA can follow.

      He also helps with our annual photo contest as one of the judges and is a big help.

      Always willing to lend a hand, always promoting the lake and an extremely positive person.  It gives me great pleasure to introduce this year’s recipient (if you haven’t guessed already)….RANDY CRAIG.

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      Fourth Annual Award 2016



      John Kuropatwa presents the award to Alex Milburn

      This is the fourth year for the  Outstanding Volunteer Award.

      The award consists of three components:

      1.     A certificate, from the KLRA, commemorating this honour;
      2.   A place in our website’s virtual Hall of Fame; and
      3.     A special plaque, representative of all the wonderful things our lake has to      offer….a canoe paddle that has been inscribed with the recipient’s name.

        Below are some highlights of this person’s contributions as taken from two of his nomination pages…

        This person is a long time seasonal resident of Kahshe Lake.  During the time he has been a cottager on South Kahshe Lake Road, he has contributed his talent, time and energy to support the activities of the KLRA in its protection of the lake environment and to the enhancement of social and natural life on the lake.

        He is active on the Conservation Committee.  This was a natural outcome of his involvement in the development of the Kahshe Lake Plan starting in 2001.  Later, he became the treasurer and an active member of the Kahshe Lake Plan Implementation Committee, which was charged with getting the Lake Plan principles into the Gravenhurst Official Plan and by-laws.

        He was President of the KLRA for two years.

        He has been a volunteer consultant to the KLRA Treasurer as that officer prepares the yearly financial statements and budgets.  For the past several years, this person has reviewed the KLRA’s financial records.  Not only has he ensured the accuracy and completeness of the records, but he contributed significantly to improving the process of recording business activity throughout the year.  I have had many occasions to see how much effort he puts into these financial reviews, literally weeks a year.

        He is currently the Treasurer of the South Kahshe Road Association and an active member of the Kahshe Lake Conservation Committee.

        He is intelligent, persistent but low key with a real sense of humour. He is one of the rocks we have been relying on all these years, working in the background to make our lake a better place for us all, a better place for nature and our whole lake community.

        Wonderful tributes for a deserving recipient.  The 2016 Outstanding Volunteer Award, is presented  to Alex Milburn  

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        Third Annual Award 2015



        Eleanor MacLean accepts the 2015 award from John Kuropatwa

        and receives flowers from granddaughter Libby

        Presentation by John Kuropatwa: There are many people in our community who have given unselfishly of their time and energy to help make this a better place.  The Kahshe Lake Ratepayers’ Association values their work and has created the Outstanding Volunteer Award.  It is presented at our Annual General Meeting and I am pleased to note that this is the third year for the award.

        The award consists of three components:

        • 1.     A certificate, from the KLRA, commemorating this honour;
        • 2.     A place in our website’s virtual Hall of Fame; and
        • 3.     A special plaque, representative of all the wonderful things our lake has to offer….a canoe paddle that has been inscribed with the recipient’s name.

        I will now read you some highlights of this person’s contributions as taken from the nomination pages…

        This person “has contributed to Kahshe Lake in a number of ways. She and her family have been on Kahshe for more than fifty years.   

        As a Board Member she served on various Committees over the years and began handling membership very early on.  Also, she and her family were responsible for editing the Newsletter for 12 years. 

        As well as helping to develop Kahshe’s Constitution, she assisted with editing it in 2000.

        She chaired the Lake Plan Committee from its beginning in 2001, and then the Kahshe Lake Plan Implementation Committee.

        She has continued with responsibility for membership and the Membership data base since its inception. She continues to sit on two Committees of the KLRA:  The Conservation Committee and the Communications/Outreach/Membership Committee.

        She is always most welcoming to newcomers to the Lake and to the Board, encouraging people to get involved.  She is dedicated to Kahshe and has spent more hours than one could count on, working for the good of the Lake and all its residents.  She is a very worthy recipient of this award.

        And this from another nomination form:

        This person “probably contributed more to the KLRA over a longer period of time than any other member of the association during the years we have been on the lake.”

        What a wonderful testimony to a woman who has given and done so much for our lake.   It gives me great pleasure to present this year’s recipient of our annual Outstanding Volunteer Award, and if you haven’t guessed already, to Eleanor MacLean.   


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        Second Annual Award 2014


        Clare Henderson accepts the 2014 award 

        from John Mertl, President of the KLRA

        “It's almost impossible to measure his contribution to the lake. As the KLRA website webmaster, he is the heart and centre of our entire community. The website is superb, informative, wide ranging, always current.  lt has become an effective tool for keeping in touch and up to date; it's the pulse of the lake, The KLRA board would be lost without it; cottagers would be adrift.

        He is still compiling and collecting stories for the on-line editions of Healing Waters. He was the editor and driving force behind the first two (sold out) editions of Healing Waters, a history of our lake and community and an extraordinary achievement.

        He was a huge presence working with the group behind Kahshe's essential and influential lake plan.

        He continues to work for the Conservation Committee and is one of its representatives on the Communications Committee.

        He was the man who made the Photo Contest happen these past four years. He has sent out reminders, gathered and organized the entries, worked with the judges, and helped coordinate the prizes and certificates.

        He has already agreed to work on the Kahshe Calendar.   We know, that if he is on it, then it will happen. Simple as that.”

        What a wonderful testimony to a man who has given and done so much for our lake.   It gives me great pleasure to present this year’s recipient of our annual Outstanding Volunteer Award, and if you haven’t guessed already, to Clare Henderson.   

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        2013 Outstanding Volunteer Award

        Bob Reyburn presents the 2013 Outstanding Volunteer award 
        to George Lindsay

        The award for 2013 goes to the very deserving George Lindsay!

        Presentation Comment:

        This person has been a volunteer on the lake for over 15 years.  He has taken on numerous roles including president of the Housey’s Rapids Association before it amalgamated with KLRA.  He has been a valuable member of the Kahshe Lake Plan Committee for over 10 years.

        This person has co-chaired the Kahshe Lake Photo Contest for a number of years and has done a lot of the work in preparing the photos, certificates and building the display boards.

        This person has been a long-time member of the Craft Show planning committee.  Not only did he help organize the show, he also constructed the bake tent.

        His nominator concluded by saying that this person “has given of his time and energy over the years without specific recognition and he really deserves an award”.



        Kahshe Lake Ratepayers' Association (1994) Inc. (KLRA)
        PO Box 1318, Gravenhurst, ON, Canada, P1P 1V5
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