Aurora
July 24, 2008 09:29 PM
By: Simone Joseph
Some people wear different hats in life. Susan Walmer has a drawer filled with them.
The 48-year-old (she turns 49 Aug. 3) has devoted a desk drawer at home to the hats, pins and buttons she wears volunteering for a multitude of different organizations.
Ms Walmer, an Aurora resident for 12 years, is the town’s 2008 Citizen of the Year.
“Our honouree’s volunteerism for Aurora and beyond is well known. In many circles, she is known as the ‘phenomenal organizer’ because of her amazing ability to get events and groups organized and to mobilize others into action,” Aurora mayor Phyllis Morris said.
An activist and environmental advocate, Ms Walmer is now focusing on protecting the Oak Ridges Moraine.
She is part of the moraine’s land trust, a volunteer non-profit organization that aims to keep and protect the land. Citizens can donate land to the trust or put a conservation easement on their land to protect it from development.
“People want to be assured the land will be kept in a natural state forever,” she said.
Residents are worried how decisions about the land will be affected by changes in government but the land trust is outside of the influence of government or other boards, Ms Walmer said.
But the environment is not the only area about which she is passionate.
Aurora’s top citizen is also a proponent of education and the town’s heritage.
She is most proud of being able to keep the Aurora Historica Fair alive. The York Region District School Board has traditionally run and funded the fair but, about four years ago, it dropped its funding commitment.
So, Ms Walmer and about three other fair volunteers, banded together to prevent cancellation of the event.
“It (the fair) allows students to express their Canadian knowledge and pride,” Ms Walmer said. “We don’t do enough of that Canadian flag waving.”
For the past two years, Ms Walmer has been chairperson of the Aurora Community and York Region Historica fairs, a celebration of history where grades 4 to 8 students create Canadian themed projects. The fair is funded through community contributions, including the Town of Aurora, Optimist Club and private funding.
The most difficult volunteering she does, of course, involves controversy.
Her battle against the Dr. G.W. Williams Secondary School relocation is one such example. The Aurora public high school is one of 10 across the region being considered for replacement.
Parents had come together and Ms Walmer became one of the main spokespeople for parents. The group made a large presentation to the school board on how the relocation would impact the community. The board has since delayed its decision to replace the Dunning Avenue high school.
“They (the school board) listened and realized it is not just a matter of dollars and cents. They need to know how relocation would affect the community,” she said.
Ms Walmer has tried to instill her volunteerism in her two children, Janine, 14, and Mark, 18.
From preschool age, practically from the time they could talk, she had them donning rubber boots to clean up a stream or take part in Daffodil Days to raise money for The Heart and Stroke Foundation and for cancer research.
“They need to appreciate what we have in Canada and the fact that we are privileged,” she said.
“I hope kids realize volunteering should be part of life, not just something to do for community hours.”
The land trust will be a recipient of part of the proceeds of the Magna Hoe Down.
Call 905-833-3171 for information about the land trust or tickets to the Hoe Down.
Go to www.oakridgesmoraine.org for information about the land trust.
Ms Walmer’s accomplishments include:
- A founding member of ACORN — Aurora Citizens Organization Respecting Nature — a group concerned about the environment.
- Volunteer with Save the Oak Ridges Moraine (STORM) and of the town’s environmental advisory committee.
- She is involved with the Magna Hoedown and the Aurora Highview Community Millennium Project.
- Founded and is chairperson of the Ratepayers of Aurora Yonge South.