BURNABY – Community-minded volunteer Sardar Kehar Singh Aujla was honored by the City of Burnaby with it’s highest volunteer award, Kushiro Cup ,”Citizen of the Year” on On Friday, May 4.
Aujla was honoured by Mayor Derek R. Corrigan and Councillors at a City Appreciation Dinner, which was also attended by City Committee members, City Police and Fire Chiefs, Local MPs and MLAs, his Sponsor and supporters, family and friends.
Coun. Anne Kang, chair of the committee, called Aujla an outstanding citizen.
“We feel he truly deserves this award for the time, energy and enthusiasm he commits to his community,” she said at the council meeting.
This may be the first time the honor has gone to a recent immigrant, according to Coun. Pietro Calendino, a member of the selection committee.
Aujla, a very busy man, emigrated from India with his wife in 1996. He began volunteering in Burnaby a decade later. He has been a dedicated volunteer with the Burnaby’s General Hospital, City Hall and Village Museum. He has also volunteered for the Shadbolt Centre for the Arts and Sukh Sagar Sikh temple. He volunteers in his community for more than 40 hours a week and for nine different organizations.
He has received the 2011 Seniors of Distinction Award for Healthy Living (Burnaby), and the 2010 SFU Gerontology Senior Leadership Award (Lower Mainland). In 2010, he was profiled by the coordinator in Volunteer Grandparents, which published a legacy book titled, “Growing from the Roots”.
It makes for a very busy schedule, but Aujla said the positive response he receives from those he works with keeps him energized.
