EMSB to honour volunteers on April 9

The annual English Montreal School Board Parent Volunteer Appreciation Evening will take place on Tuesday, April 9 (6:30 pm)  at the Plaza Volare of the Crowne Plaza Hotel on Cote de Liesse in St. Laurent. This year’s event is being held to commemorate National Volunteer Week, which runs from April 7 to 13, under the theme of “Cheers to 20 years of Volunteers”. 

Adrian and Natalie Bercovici are this year’s Volunteer Ambassadors of the Year. Adrian and Natalie founded the Generations Foundation in 1999. They provide breakfasts, hot lunches and snacks daily to over 8,500 children annually. It all began at the EMSB’s St. Gabriel Elementary School in Pointe St. Charles. The organization now serves 118 schools and centres in the Greater Montreal area. 

The Volunteer of Distinction this year is Carol Clifton. She began volunteering at St. Gabriel School in1982 when she enrolled her first child in kindergarten. She began as a member of the Parents Committee, was a member of Governing Board and also started a Home and School Association volunteer program. She is now president of the Home and School , where she continues to devote a considerable amount of time.  

Time and space do not allow the EMSB to honor all of its nearly 1,500 volunteers in person. Therefore, only those individuals who have volunteered for more than five years will attend the reception, representing some 500 people. However, several thousand copies of a commemorative program book will be distributed to each school.

The emcees for the evening will be Global News senior anchor Jamie Orchard and EMSB Communications and Marketing Specialist Mike Cohen.  For the 10th consecutive year, La Capitale is the title sponsor for this event. La Capitale Financial Services (www.lacapitale.com) which is a member of La Capitale Financial Group, offers a wide range of products and services that are designed to simplify financial choices for members working in the public and parapublic sectors in over 900 public and parapublic institutions across the province.  These services include: personal financial advice; savings, investments and funds; individual life and health insurance; mortgages and personal loans; insurance for automobiles, recreational vehicles, home, travel and legal access; commercial insurance; and group insurance.

Event Sponsors

Along with La Capitale, the 2019 EMSB Volunteer Appreciation Evening is proud to have the following companies as its major sponsors: Steve’s Music Store (www.stevesmusic.com), is a major force in the Canadian music industry since 1965, which caters to all kinds of musical needs; Loft Uniforms (www.loftuniforms.com), sells a large selection of school uniforms for public and private schools, at both elementary and secondary levels, across Quebec and Ontario; Green Apple Studio (www.greenapplestudio.ca), is a photography studio that serves schools and daycare centres, and uses award-winning background replacement technology, which gives more flexibility and choices when it comes to student portrait photos. They are also the official photographer for Volunteer Appreciation Night; Global Montreal (www.globalnews.ca) a longtime supporter of the EMSB and Volunteer Appreciation Evening; Promotions Hannah (www.hannahpromotions.com) is an agency that specializes in offering promotional products and strategies that help to impact overall growth objectives, with their main focus of contributing towards their clients’ overall profit and sales evolution; Fana Sports (www.fanasports.com) manufactures custom made sports team uniforms for all sports, which are sewn in their own facility. They also offer cresting and numbering services, as well as a new cut-and-sew customized teamwear line; Building Blocks Tutorials (www.bbtutorials.com), which was founded in 2004, and offers final exam crash courses and academic workshops, with an aim to instill effective and lifelong learning strategies and problem solving skills, which in turn helps to build a sense of confidence, motivation and success for students that will not only impact them academically, but also professionally and personally; TCBY (tcbycsl@videotron.ca) sells frozen yogurt and with over 360 stores nationwide, they joined forces with Mrs. Fields Freshly Baked Cookies (mrsfieldsmtl@gmail.com); Sheldon Kirshner (514-909-0429) who sells promotional products and clothing; Top Marks (www.topmarks.ca) who have been outfitting students across the country with the finest Canadian made school uniforms since 1986; Les Délices Lafrenaie Montreal-Ouest Bakery (www.lesdeliceslafrenaie.com)  is a family business dating back to 1979. They use only the highest quality ingredients and their goal is to offer the best for their customers; Dynamix (montreal@getdynamix.com) is the leader in teambuilding and character development for kids, teens and professionals in the youth sector. Through fun, hands-on and action packed experiences, they provide groups the opportunity to reflect on important issues like respect, cooperation and team spirit; Universal Socks Co. (514-904-2958) offers a fun, easy innovative way to fundraise money for your organization. Providing a box of 14 colorful socks ready to sell, and make your organization a profit; The Challenger (plazapmg.com/en/plaza-le-challenger/) part of the PMG family of reception halls located in St. Laurent offers their full services for receptions, conferences, corporate and outdoor events.