FORT FRANCES – A local couple’s decades of tireless volunteering and dedication to community has been recognized with the 2023 Citizen of the Year Award.
An email from the office of Fort Frances Mayor Andrew Hallikas notified Duane and Grace Cridland of the award three weeks ago.
“It was a surprise,” said Grace. “It’s not something we think about, not something we expect.”
They were formally presented with the award Nov. 14 at the town’s Civic Centre, where Hallikas presented them with a plaque recognizing their service to Fort Frances.
Hallikas was on the committee that chose the Cridlands for the award.
“They for the longest time have just given of their time and talent, and they’re just dedicated members of the community who love Fort Frances,” he said in an interview afterwards.
“Over the years, they’ve been involved in countless community functions,” he continued. “And they also are very generous. They give financial contributions to a wide variety of worthy causes.”
The Cridlands have organized and sponsored Christmas dinners, and “they consistently donate food to the homeless,” he said.
Their other contributions to Fort Frances life include support for an annual bass tournament, the town’s skateboard park and the Border Skating Club, he said.
The couple’s daughters are also making a difference by “volunteering at all kinds of events,” Hallikas said.
That’s true, said Grace – their three daughters, aged 27-39, have volunteered “from a very young age. We dragged them along for different events and they’ve learned that volunteering is part of what you do.
“We also have six grandkids that are already being dragged into the world of volunteerism,” she added. “A couple of them are ringing the bells for Salvation Army next week.”
Those bell-ringers are just 9 and 11 years old.
Helping out in community events and charities is just the right thing to do, said Duane.
“There’s a little plaque that’s on the wall in both our civic hall and our Ice for Kids arena, which is one of the many wonderful facilities we have in this town, that says volunteerism is the cost of living in a community,” he said. “It’s very true.”
