Both the 2018 Citizen of the Year and Junior Citizen of the Year were honoured by the community Friday night.
The Junior Citizen Alyssa Woodrow and Citizen of the Year Pius Pfeifer were honoured at a dinner held at the Western Development Museum.
Woodrow is a grade 12 student at John Paul II Collegiate.
In her remarks about Woodrow, Deb McNabb pointed to Woodrow’s involvement in initiatives including Students Against Drunk Drivers and the Mental Health Communication Café, with the Legion and the Wounded Warriors initiative and as a founder of the Better Together campaign. The latter initiative came into being as a response to the youth suicides in the community that had impacted Woodrow and many others.
“Her name has a special meaning. The meaning of her name is ‘noble one,’” said McNabb.” I think that’s awesome. What does noble really mean? It means to be honest. It means to be worthy. It means to be generous and it means to be brave. It means to be awe inspiring and amazing. So Miss Alyssa, my friend, ‘noble one,’ we are all so very proud of you.”
Pfiefer was honoured for his many contributions to the Battlefords community. Orville and Theresa Bilous introduced Pfeifer. They paid credit to him for his devotion to his church and to the community. They pointed to his contributions, including to Catholic Family Services, Knights of Columbus, the St. Joseph and Notre Dame parishes, the food bank, the Boys and Girls Club and the Battlefords Trade and Education Centre new building which bears the name “Pfeifer Learning Centre.”
Pfeifer was also one of the investors behind the effort to keep North Battleford’s SJHL team, the North Stars, in the community in 1983.
“Many groups in the Battlefords community are more advanced today thanks to the generosity of Pius Pfeifer,” Theresa Bilous said.
“We rarely see Pius Pfeifer acknowledged publicly. We are blessed that after so many years of so much giving to this community the Battlefords say ‘thank you, Pius, for a job well done.’”
