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Tom Moffat honoured with Lifetime Achievement Award

Moffat volunteered with youth, as a Big Brother, with the Lions Club, and many more

Last week’s Volunteer Citizen of the Year awards banquet saw two individuals receive Lifetime Achievement Awards for their service to the community.

The second, for Tom Moffat, was awarded post-humously, for Moffat’s many years volunteering with various organizations in Quesnel. His grandson Ian Hart accepted the award on his behalf.

Moffat was born in Quesnel. He served in the RCAF and was active in the Quesnel Legion for many years. His most recent project for the Legion was to affix medal replicas of 16 local men who served in World War II. The project was completed by Legion historian Doug Carey after Moffat passed away last year.

“Through the Legion he would go around to schools and do Remembrance Day ceremonies. That’s how the photo wall [for the Legion] got started – it was originally a school presentation,” explains Hart.

”He saw a need for the memory of those boys to be shared. He had to do a lot of research to find out about all those boys, I found a big briefcase full of papers.”

Moffat was also involved with Big Brothers Big Sisters, the Rod and Gun Club, for which he put together the bylaws in 1954, and was a member of the Quesnel Lions Club, as a past president and vice president.

“He was involved with Big Brothers, that was something that was important for him and for the little brother too,” says Hart.

“Informally, he has had lots of family members or friends of friends who he’s taken under his wing and been a mentor for. All through his life my grandfather had a sense that youth in the community needed mentors more than just their parents,” he explains.

Moffat also contributed to the Quesnel Museum and was a valued contact for his stories about life in Quesnel in the 1920s, 1930s and 1940s. There is even a video of one of Moffat’s many talks available on YouTube (watch below) .

Hart says his grandfather has inspired him to become involved in his community – Hart now lives in Chase – when he can.

“It’s important to participate and I’ve been exploring my interests through that,” says Hart.

“I was really honoured to be [at the awards banquet] and I feel thankful to have been asked to accept the award on my grandfather’s behalf.”