CHURCH AWARD WINNERS 2010 WINNERS OF THE HAROLD AND MARION PANABAKER AWARD: PENNEY KOME AND LYNN NUGENT  Penney and Lynn have been co-chairs of Church Services committee off and on for 7 or 8 years, during which they switched from pews to chairs, and moved the candles off the Celebration tabletop onto the wall and the tall stand (for safety reasons). They also introduced the use of the projector and screen, for slide shows and webcam views. They work closely with the minister, music director, RE director and lay leaders to maintain a high standard of presentations on Sunday mornings. They monitor attendance and, once a month, with the committee, they review the previous month's services and plan services for several months ahead. They also find a summer service co-ordinator and help organize summer services, which generally attract 40 to 60 regulars and visitors per week. Penney, among her other contributions: Showed us how to get community funding for projects such as our two chair lifts. Initiated the 1,000,000 penny drive. Did a great job in recruiting interesting speakers for our lay service Sundays. Was a prime mover in promoting a more attractive treatment for the Panabaker stairwell windows. Has run lay services on several occasions. Was a web master for our outstanding web site. Served as purchasing agent for the chalice (which turned into a 6-month saga), the congregation chairs, the chairs at the front, the current silk plants, and sold off the pews over the course of a year, thus keeping them out of the landfill and also netting a tidy profit. Lynn, among her other contributions: Ran the frustrating usher recruitment process. Did a great job in recruiting speakers for our lay service Sundays. Has ensured that there was an attractive floral display for the Panabaker dais on Sundays. Was the Board Secretary for two years. Served a term on the Chaplaincy committee. Set-up, with John Michell, the Co-op gift card program for the church.  Lynn organized the weekly ushers for several years, which can be a challenging task. Lynn organized and trained a corps of "Service Associates" who can act as service leaders.     WINNER OF THE WILLIAM IRVINE JUSTICE AWARD: SHARON STEVENS Press release by Hazel Corcoran What do a preacher from the 1910’s named William Irvine and Calgary activist-artist Sharon Stevens have in common? A surprising amount!  Sharon Stevens, who on Saturday evening accepted the William Irvine Award at the Unitarian Church of Calgary, combines art and culture with social justice to strengthen the voice of women, community activists, people living in poverty, and artists. She works both at the nonprofit Arusha Centre as community development coordinator, and as Community Liaison for Ward 9 with Alderman Joe Ceci.  Sharon has been involved, and remains involved, in a phenomenal number of social justice, feminist and environmental causes, often intertwined with the arts. As part of her work at Arusha, she has been inspirational in the creation of the Calgary Foundation's Take Action Granting program, Action Film Events and the InfoActive Community Resource Centre, Calgary Dollars and the Calgary Car-sharing co-op (CATCO); as well as a veritable laundry list of unique initiatives with Alderman Joe Ceci including twice monthly community litter pick-ups and promotion of Calgary's musical culture. She serves as a Board member of the Calgary Folk Music Festival and the Alberta Media Arts Alliance Society, and is active with the Calgary Arts Development Authority. Sharon's other contributions include with The Take Back the Night women's marches, the herland Feminist Film Festival. This is what Alderman Joe Ceci had to say about Sharon – "She is the kind of Calgarian committed to social justice that I wish this city had legions of; Sharon cares passionately, works tirelessly, and never loses hope that together we can achieve a fairer, greener, more egalitarian and better Calgary for all. In all the years that I have known Sharon, that belief has never faltered, and she has continued to work toward social justice aims with that crucial combination of deep conviction and a sense of humour." Sharon is also a performer contributing to art performances and public theatre through, for example, the L.A. Bridge Party women's theatre collective. She is a filmmaker who has made 12 videos and films, often in collaboration with other artists and  musicians such as James Keelaghan and Anne Loree. These films have played in many festivals and other venues. Sharon's documentary "Doodlebugs, the Video", describing the economics and culture of Alberta's seismic crews,  is included in the Glenbow Museums Alberta exhibit "Mavericks".  She recently completed a year as Artist-in-Residence at EMMEDIA Gallery, where she spearheaded the participatory arts project "OX: a Crash Course on Loving Calgary". The fascinating results are available online at:  www.essense.ca/ox; Calgarians can still participate in this project. William Irvine (1885-1962), preacher at the Unitarian Church of Calgary for several years starting in 1916, was a remarkable human being who embodied Unitarian principles and the highest values of contribution to the common good.  Irvine was a Tommy Douglas kind of person, and one of the MPs who in 1932 founded the CCF party which later became the NDP. He served as a very progressive voice in Parliament over many years in the early part of the last century. During his time as a minister he was a captivating preacher and speaker who inspired people to work for a better humanity, including for women's suffrage. For many years, he wrote a bimonthly newsletter (the Nutcracker, which can be found at the Glenbow Archives); and he also wrote a couple of plays.  Here are some quotes which will give you a sense of Irvine: "The questions of a living wage,  the ownership of land and the means of production and distribution, injustice and political corruption are as much the work of a devil and as worthy targets for the church to attack as the petty individual sins that have so long been vehemently denounced from the pulpit." "Heaven will become a reality when we cease to try to get people into Heaven, and begin to try to get Heaven into people." And more in the realm of politics:  "(CCF co-founder) J.S. Woodsworth was the leader of our group -- and I was the group." Sharon Stevens and William Irvine have a great deal in common. they both have / had a deep commitment to social justice they demonstrate commitment to feminism and the equality of women to varying degrees, they bring/ brought art and culture into their activism it would be good for all of us to know more about both of them and their work they have a great sense of humour and make it fun to create a better world each has helped, and still helps, to make the world a more wonderful place to be.