聽 聽 聽 聽 聽 聽 Eugene Boychuk of Sturgis was honoured with the Kin Canada Lifetime Achievement award for his dedication to the Kinsmen Club. He received the award on August 22 at the national convention hosted in Brandon, Man.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 The Kin Canada Lifetime Award is considered to be the highest award in the Kinsmen Association and is awarded to a member who had dedicated his or her life to the betterment and the furthering of the association and its goals.
The recipient of this award lives, breathes, sweats and bleeds Kin Canada, said Ron Hanishewsky, national president of the Kinsmen Association. This person is active in leadership roles within their club and has been an executive member for a minimum of five years at the club, district or national levels.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 "This award fits Eugene to the tee," said Hanishewsky. 鈥淏oychuk has been a member of the Sturgis Kinsmen Club since 1973, that鈥檚 42 years. He has held every office and chaired many projects. The project that Boychuk is most proud of is the Sturgis Mini Miracle of which he was a committee member, chairman and co-chair since its inception in 1981. The proceeds of mini-miracle have been presented to Telemiracle each year, reaching a combined total to date of $795,521.鈥�
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 The prestigious award has only been awarded three times, said Hanishewsky. Boychuk was nominated for the award by the Kinsmen Club of Sturgis with the support of the Yorkton Kinsmen Club.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 "This award is a huge honour for me," said Boychuk. "It has been very humbling and gratifying for me as an individual and a Kinsmen member. It is hard to put it into words my true feelings but being a Kinsmen has been very rewarding for the 42 years of involvement in the club. At the time I had joined I was a bank manager for the Sturgis branch of the Credit Union. I was told it was part of my job to be active in the community and was invited to a Kinsmen meeting. From that meeting I discovered that I really enjoyed getting to know others and had fun from the start. I learned a lot about myself and how to run meetings and it gave me the confidence to talk to other people. I believe in getting involved and giving 100 per cent of myself in everything I get involved in."
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 On February 28 in Sturgis, Eugene Boychuk, Ron Wagar and Terry Mang, all Sturgis Kinsmen members, were awarded with life memberships to the Sturgis Kinsmen Club and Hanishewsky encouraged the club to nominate all three for the lifetime achievement award.
The Kin motto is 鈥淪erving the Community's Greatest Needs鈥� and Boychuk has served in various capacities on various projects, including: Sturgis Kinsmen Trip of Month, the cementing of the Sturgis Skating Arena, roller skating, beer gardens, crown and anchor at the July 1 sports and rodeo, fruit and nut and chocolate sales, street dances, bingo and the annual perogie cup.
