2026 Volunteer Awards
Every year, East Hants proudly honours one of our community’s greatest assets – our volunteers. These individuals selflessly give their time and energy to support others, creating lasting impacts throughout our region. Whether they’re enhancing the beauty of our community, preserving our culture and history, ensuring safety, coaching local sports teams, mentoring youth or lending a hand to a neighbour, their contributions truly make a difference.
Fire Fighter Municipal Long Service Awards
Volunteer Fire Departments may nominate a fire services member for a Canadian Volunteer Fire Service Association Municipal Long Service Award medal for 30 years of Service and additional long-service bars every 5 years. Thank you to all recipients for your service and all you do for our communities!
- Dale Copp – Enfield Volunteer Fire Department – 30 Years
- Charles Dingle – Milford & District Volunteer Fire Dept – 30 Years
- Deborah Leahy – Elmsdale Fire and Emergency Services – 30 Years
- Edward Moxsom – Milford & District Volunteer Fire Dept – 30 Years
- Mike Sanford -Nine Mile River & District Volunteer Fire Dept – 30 Years
- Stephen White – Kennetcook District Fire Department – 30 Years
- Vance White – Kennetcook District Fire Department – 35 Years
- John McLellan – Noel & District Volunteer Fire Department – 35 years
- Dale Crowell (not pictured) – Elmsdale Fire and Emergency Services
– 40 Years - Herbert Romkey – Milford & District Volunteer Fire Dept – 40 Years
- Wayne Barchard (not pictured) – Enfield Volunteer Fire Department
– 40 Years - Cecil Dixon – Enfield Volunteer Fire Department – 45 Years
- Al Gould – Elmsdale Fire and Emergency Services – 50 Years
- John Kingston – Uniacke & District Volunteer Fire Dept – 50 years
- Francis Ledwidge – Enfield Volunteer Fire Department – 55 Years
Volunteer Award Recipients
Anita Benedict
You may recognize our Town Crier, Anita. She has been volunteering her time and talents for many years. Currently, she volunteers with the choir at the Noel United Church, as well as helping with fundraisers, auctioneering, acting, and leading services in times of need. Anita also does the Children’s Time during the service. Beyond the church, Anita has facilitated grief workshops in the community, and operated free writing workshops.
Karen Duncan
Karen volunteers with the East Hants Tigers Association, serving as their events coordinator. She also manages the U14 girls’ basketball team, and the Riverside Education Centre girls’ team. Karen schedules games and tournaments, organizes fund raising events, manages communication, and organizes the East Hants Tigers Awards Banquet.
John Grant
John Grant is a newer volunteer recruit with the East Hants Historical Society, but comes to the group with years and years of experience and education. Every Friday, John can be found at the EHHS research room, sorting, filing, creating finding aids, shelving and cataloguing. John’s vast knowledge of Nova Scotian history has made him an invaluable volunteer to the society and to East Hants as a whole.
Leanne Hanley
Leanne volunteers with Uniacke area Girl Guides. Leanne stepped in to save a unit, creating a combined Guide and Pathfinder Unit, where she created a work program where girls gain leadership experience. She dedicates time to mentoring girls on independent award work, bringing her energy, passion, and creativity to all that she does. Last year, Leanne was awarded the Bronze Merit Award in recognition of her contributions to the Guiding community.
Danelle and Jeremy Hoffman
Danelle and Jeremy volunteer together, sharing their positive and encouraging attitudes with young athletes throughout their community. Danelle has been coaching ball for over 9 years, and currently serves on the Executive of the Mustang Association, helping to plan and develop programs for the future. Jeremy offers his time and skills doing field maintenance, upgrades and repairs. Jeremy coaches both ball and hockey, giving his time and talent to the youth of Mt. Uniacke.
John Kingston
John has been a member of the Uniacke & District Volunteer Fire Department for 50 years, where he currently serves as Deputy Chief. John has received many decorations and acknowledgements for his service, and has been involved with the Royal Canadian Legion, East Hants Fire Advisory Board, and the East Hants Emergency Measures Organization., as well as the early years of the Mount Uniacke Softball Association.
Sheena MacAskill
Sheena is a longstanding volunteer with the East Hants Family Resource Centre, attending every event and fundraiser, and serving on the board of directors. Her insight and input when making decisions has been incredibly valuable to the organization. Sheena is a wholehearted worker, spending her spare time supporting her children’s activities as a parent volunteer.
Joanne Skelhorn
Joanne has dedicated her life to others, and continues to do so in her retirement. She is the secretary of the Noel Fire Auxiliary, lending a hand whenever needed. She also volunteers with the Noel United Church and the Noel Legion, where her friendly face is found at events, selling tickets, and making breakfast. Joanne also serves as the treasurer of the Minasville Community Hall, and is a volunteer for the Rising Tides New Horizon Centre.
Pamela Taylor
Pam has been volunteering with the East Hants Curling Association for 9 years, serving on the Board of Directors, organizing bonspiels, and initiating Stick Curling Clinics. Pam spear-headed the website and email processes for the group, and has been instrumental in ensuring clear lines of communication.
Caroline Travis
Caroline is a dedicated Girl Guides volunteer with her local unit, joining when her kids where young. Years later, Caroline is still Guiding, and goes the extra mile to connect with each and every youth involved. Her positive attitude and enthusiasm make her an incredibly valuable volunteer to the organization.
Pat Ward
Pat is a well-respected volunteer in her community, faithfully giving her time and service to many organizations. Pat has been involved with groups such as the Hants North Legion, the Hants County Exhibition, and the Noel Fire Department Auxiliary where she can be found selling tickets, managing social media, and even preparing food.
Rae Williams
Rae has been volunteering with the East Hants Family Resource Centre for 7 years, serving on their board of directors, and assisting with special events, fundraisers, and programming. Rae brings fresh ideas to the organization, as well as energy and enthusiasm. She also volunteers with Roots of Empathy and her local 4-H chapter.
Amanda Wood
Patricia has been a volunteer with the East Hants Historical Society for the past 13 years, where she has been involved in preserving local history within the community. Having served as vice-president, president, and now past-president, Patricia has championed the designation of historic sites, advocating for the recognition and respect of Indigenous heritage in the region, and has assisted with genealogical research inquiries. She has also initiated the Google Hub project, making historical resources accessible digitally.
Steve White
Steve is a pillar in the community. He volunteers with the Noel Road Community Hall, is a dedicated first responder and is the Chief of Kennetcook Fire department. In addition, Steve also volunteers his time with the Kids Action program where he organizes regular paint nights for the community.
Non-Pictured Recipients
Diane Hennigar
Diane volunteers with the Kids Action Program. Her unwavering compassion and generosity stand out to the group, where she can often be found contributing to gardens, organizing the Angel Tree Program, and assisted with all kind of programs. Diane also conducts home visits, where her kindness, dignity, and understanding shines through to families.
Model Volunteer of the Year
The Model Volunteer Award is presented to an individual who exemplifies extraordinary caring and commitment through volunteering their time and expertise on several projects to help make their community a better place in which to live. The award is based on the evaluation of the overall impact their contributions have had on their community.
The recipient of this award will represent the Municipality of East Hants at the 2026 Provincial Awards Ceremony hosted by the province of Nova Scotia. All of our volunteer nominees were considered for this award.
2026 Recipient: Ken Moxsom
Ken is a longtime volunteer with the East Hants Fire Service Association, and currently serves as Deputy Chief of Milford Fire. In addition to his fire service, Ken has dedicated his time to ensure the volunteer fire departments of East Hants have quality trainings and opportunities by organizing mutual aid trainings. These trainings range from Vehicle Extraction to recognizing and dealing with Domestic Violence.
