Award given to worthy athlete
Pitt Meadows and Maple Ridge will once again be recognizing their Home Town Heroes
Gord McBeath gave his son Sean a hug at last year's Home Town Hero ceremony put on by the Rotary club.
Photograph by: TIMES , files
It's a big secret as to who will be announced the winner of the 37th Home Town Hero at the MeadowRidge Rotary Club 22nd annual Sports Banquet on Monday night.
Posters with write-ups about the Home Town Heroes are displayed across the community at schools, recreational centres, and local businesses as a way to inspire youth in the community.
Last year's nomination went to kayaker Sean McBeath who as a child once told his father: "I want to be on that wall someday."
It seems the program is working.
"The message is simple, if we can tell our youth that these heroes played 'in my gym,' 'in my sports league,' or 'on my team' and that they, too, can get there from here," said William Robson, who runs the Home Town Heroes program.
This year marks the 14th anniversary of the program sponsored by the Meadowridge Sports Hero Society.
The program recognizes new heroes into the program every year.
The criteria for Home Town Heroes are that the athletes must have lived in Maple Ridge or Pitt Meadows, attended school in Maple Ridge and Pitt Meadows, played on local sports teams or local youth organizations, and gone on to compete on an international level.
The banquet will be held at the Meadows Gardens Golf Course, where there will be a long line of banners featuring past Home Town Heroes, from Olympic soccer goalie Karina LeBlanc to Paralympian Stephanie MacDougall to Boston Bruins president Cam Neely to last year's winner Sean McBeath, all athletes from Maple Ridge and Pitt Meadows who have made it on the international sports scene.
