Karen Hanson presented the 2024 Todd Bardes Award and Nina Carlisle award to the recipients.

Todd Bardes Award

• The Todd Bardes Award is given annually to outstanding persons who have made significant volunteer contributions to the TBTC in the prior year or two. Such volunteering could be in the areas of trail maintenance, hike leading, social event planning, communications, administrative tasks, fundraising and Board service.
• For this year, the Todd Bardes Award was awarded to Monica Pasquali for her substantial contributions to the TBTC.

Monica Pasquali’s Nomination

Monica is very dedicated and passionate about the TBTC and making a difference in our organization. She is a strong promoter of our Biodiversity initiatives, embodying the spirit of environmental stewardship and community engagement.

She was the first to achieve the iNaturalist badge and set an example for others to follow. She has inspired many individuals to join our biodiversity efforts. She regularly shares her hiking experiences on our TBTC – Share Your Hike Facebook page and collaborates with our communications team by providing captivating hike photos for our social media channels, showcasing the beauty of our trails and the joy of hiking.

She also encourages hikers of all ages, especially families and young children, by designing hikes that often incorporate family friendly activities. In 2023, she organized a hike for the new fundraising badge. She is a hike leader, Trail Captain, and does trail maintenance.

Nina Carlisle Award

• The Nina Carlisle Award is given to a longstanding volunteer (at least five years) who is actively involved in the activities of the Toronto Bruce Trail Club. Such volunteering could be in the areas of trail maintenance, hike leading, social event planning, communications, administrative tasks, fundraising and Board service.
• For this year, the Nina Carlisle Award is awarded to Jude Keast.

Jude Keast’s Nomination

Since he joined our club in 1998, Jude Keast has become an indispensable force, embodying the spirit of volunteerism in every role he takes on. As the TBTC Badge Coordinator since 2014, fondly known as “The Badge Guy” he has been instrumental in fostering connections within our community.

For almost a decade, he has overseen the distribution of over 3200 badges, each one a symbol of adventure and shared experiences. Through his unwavering dedication, the badge program has flourished, bringing hikers closer together and inspiring countless others to embark on their own adventures.

The number of badges and badge requests has jumped substantially from 94 in 2014 to over 500 in 2023. During the Covid year of 2021, over 790 badges were issued.

His contributions extend far beyond badges. He is a Trail Captain, and trail maintenance volunteer who earned the Trail Maintenance Volunteer of the Year award in 2019.

Jude has played a vital role in our club’s communications as the Advertising Coordinator for Footnotes and E-Notes since 2014. He helped to launch the new digital advertising program in 2022.

Trail Maintenance Awards

Laurent Thibault awarded the Trail Maintenance Volunteer-of-the-Year award to Andy Jeffries.

Andy has been very generous in donating his time and his expertise as a professional arborist to clear dangerous trees from the trails.

Over the past year, he has taken time out from his business (Silver Creek Tree Care) on many occasions to help trail maintenance volunteers who feel the situation is too dangerous for them to handle. Andy always keeps everyone safe as he deals with the situation, and takes the time to show volunteers how to use special chain saw cuts, as well as throw lines and how to use ropes to pull down large trees.He is a very deserving recipient of this award, and the TBTC is very grateful for his help.

Trail Captain years-of-service (longevity) awards were awarded as follows:

• Patti Guminny: 30 years of service
• Regine Joexen: 25 years of service
• John Cunningham: 25 years of service
• Sara Maedel: 10 years of service
• Lois Bastell: 10 years of service
• Connie Soros: 5 years of service
• Mark Pottruff: 5 years of service
• David Rowney: 5 years of service
• Carmen Braund: 5 years of service
• Don Braund: 5 years of service
• William Hamilton: 5 years of service
• Veronique Habel: 5 years of service
• Neal Stein: 5 years of service