Sixty-three community minded individuals in Maple Ridge and Pitt Meadows will be receiving the Queen Elizabeth’s Platinum Jubilee Award for their service to the community.
One of those recipients is going to be Arlene Lisik, who found out on Wednesday afternoon, after receiving an email from Pitt Meadows-Maple Ridge MP Marc Dalton’s office.
“I was speechless,” she said.
Lisik had just come back from seeing the movie The King’s Speech with her friend Audrey Hatch – who is also receiving a medal – on the Community Services’ Party Bus. They both returned to receive the same message.
Lisik is the treasurer with the Maple Ridge Pitt Meadows Katzie Seniors Network, and has been involved with other groups including Ridge Meadows Seniors Society, Maple Ridge Pitt Meadows Country Fest, Community Services, and Maple Ridge Garden Club.
Lisik was born and raised in Burnaby and volunteered there when she was younger. When her son was growing up, she volunteered with the Cubs and Boy Scouts, and with minor football and hockey.
She worked at the same time, because she was a single mother.
She moved to Maple Ridge in 1978, but was so busy commuting to work in Vancouver and Annacis Island, that she didn’t have any time to volunteer.
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But when Lisik retired in 2007, she joined the Ridge Meadows Seniors Society.
“Since then, all of the things I do now have emanated from that,” she explained.
“I’m just overwhelmed. It’s been such a pleasure to do all these wonderful activities all these years,” added Lisik, noting that she is not sure who nominated her for the medal, but has some suspicions.
The Queen’s Platinum Jubilee Medal is a commemorative medal created to mark the 70th anniversary of Queen Elizabeth II’s accession in 1952.
Award recipients have made contributions in a number of fields, including community service, business, arts and culture, sports, education, and volunteerism.
Lisik will be receiving her medal at a ceremony at 1:30 p.m. on Sunday at the Albion Fairgrounds.
Dalton will be handing out the medals. He explained it is a non-partisan event to acknowledge people who have made contributions to the community. He is expecting more than 150 people at the ceremony plus another 240 at a barbecue following the ceremony.
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