A lifetime of community volunteerism and helping others was recognized by the Delta Chamber of Commerce last Friday night as Irene Forcier was named the 2017 Citizen of the Year.
The prestigious honour was a fitting conclusion to the Hats Off to Excellence gala at Tsawwassen Springs that recognized businesses and individuals in nine categories.
“I’m very proud to be here to be able accept this award as Citizen of the Year. As many of the things I have been able to do and grateful to be able to do for our community, I have never worked in this community by myself,” said Forcier in her acceptance speech. “Whether it was the fire department, police department, the municipality, the many community services — I didn’t do any of it alone. I just want to say thank-you.”
Forcier also thanked her family for being on hand, including her grand-daughter Alexis who flew out from Dallas, her daughter Connie from Seattle and her son Steve from North Delta.
“I want to say thank you to everyone in the room and all the nominees. I’ve been nominated for lots of things and you don’t always win, but I’m so proud of everyone who has been nominated tonight,” she said. “Thank you for supporting me and for supporting all the things that go on in our community.”
Forcier was born in Alert Bay and lived throughout the province. She has spent the last 57 years living in all three areas of Delta.
She worked for Deltassist Community Services for 26 years — two as the office manager and 24 as executive director. Her work resulted in bringing in millions of dollars in program funding to Delta.
She is a member of the Rotary Club of Ladner and served as secretary and international chair before being elected as the first women president of the club. She is also a two-time recipient of Rotary International’s highest award, and as a result is a Paul Harris Fellow.
Between 2013 and 2017 she chaired the Ladner Rotary Splash Park Committee responsible for raising $640,000 jointly with the City of Delta to build a new, safer and eco-friendly splash park for children of all abilities in Memorial Park.
She was also the chair of the Reach Child and Youth Development Foundation for two years, helping to raise more than $1 million towards a state-of-the-art development centre for children in Ladner.
“There are hundreds and hundreds of volunteers that are working every single day in Delta in every capacity you could imagine,” she told the Optimist. “There is always something in it for a volunteer. You go out and you do something. It’s a win-win for everybody. If you volunteer, you get something out of it, but you are also doing something for the community or individuals.
“I want to thank the Delta Chamber for all the work they do in the community and for recognizing people for the work that they do.”Other winners at the Hats Off gala include:
Volunteer of the Year -- Elaine Canning
Employee Extraordinaire -- Jordan Wolff of Neutron Factory Works
Special Events and Tourism -- Ladner Village Market
Rising Star -- The Medicine Shoppe in Tsawwassen
Green Business of the Year -- GCT Global Container Terminals
Micro Business of the ear -- Dave's Pop Culture
Small Business of the Year -- The RunInn
Large Business of the Year -- Unitech Construction
