Working as a Volunteer can (at times) be a thankless task, but Nanaimo’s Gerald McDonald never thought of it as such and to be rewarded was the “icing on the cake” for him.
He was named the 2013 Volunteer of the Year during the Equine Canada Awards Gala at the 2014 Annual Convention in Winnipeg.
He has been involved in the promotion, development, and support of breed sport for 45+ years and started to work as volunteer at his local Arabian club in 1965, when the Island Highway was only two lanes and Duke Point wasn’t around.
He has been involved at all levels of the sport ranging from local to national to international and since 1990 he has donated his time, effort, knowledge, and experience to the Arabian Horse Association, which is the governing body for Arabian promotion and preservation in North America.
McDonald spearheaded the establishment of the Region 17 (Western Canada) chapter helping to increase both the promotion and development of Arabian competitions.
He has served six years as Chair, which oversees the operations of over 800 members spanning through 13 clubs and since 1995, he has served as Chair of the Canadian National Arabian Show attracting 1,000+ competitors each year.
Other notable contributions include volunteering as a chair and/or member of a wide range of committees, including National Events Operations Procedures (NEOP), Budget and Finance, IT Audit, and 3 to 5 Judge Task Force.
McDonald told the crowd “I am surprised and very humbled to receive Equine Canada’s Volunteer of the Year Award. Thank you very much.”
He has also received the AHA National Volunteer Award three times, and is the only two-time recipient of the AHA President’s Award.
Equine Canada thanks McDonald for his tireless contributions to breed sport in Canada.
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