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“I just like my sweet to be clean," she said at last year’s ceremony. “Now, it has become kind of an obsession. It’s my effort While walking her dog, Tabitha, she noticed the greenspace behind the local library was messy. She made a note to bring abagonthe nextwalkand picked up litter everyday after that. A story that caught the attention of many last yearwas that of Markham resident Mary Brown, who was honoured with the sustainable futures character award for a simple, but considerate act she has repeated for more than eight years. “Good character in all facets of life helps ensure this is a safe and vibrant place," he said. “I am proud to live and workinaoommunity that embraces these quali- Last year’s award cer- emony at the Markham Theatre uncovered a host of inspimtional sto- ries and the more stories that are shared, the more inspired the community becomes, Mr. Thrriff said. adding good character is hard to ignore and rubs ofl on the community. The awards let every- day individuals and groups, striving to make a difference through the demonstration and pro- motion of good charac- ter, know their efforts are appreciated, council member Ken'mrriffsaid. The deadline for nominations for the third annual York Region Char- actercommunity Awards is quickly approach- ing. through which York Region residents have the opportunity to recogâ€" nize the good character practices of their families, co-workers, friends and neighbours Hexefis your chance to introduce the characters in your life to your oom- mmanuuWdeEW<Tm Awards celebrate people with character BY TERESA LATCHFORD Staff Reporter award for parsing victory with honour last year. Marty Deveny of Stoufl‘ville received the Wendel Clark All nominees will be invited to the awards celebration at the Richâ€" mond Hill Centre for the Perfonning Arts at 10268 Yonge St. in Richmond Hill from 7 to 9 pm. April 28. - More infonnation and mm nation forms can be found at mchalactelmnunitycom Nominations must be submitted by 4:30 pm. Feb. 6. Each nomination will be judged according to the number of attri- butes identified, how many people have been impacted by their actions in the community. lead- ership in character develâ€" opment and community participation; This year, the catego- ries include business of character, business lead- er, citizen of courage, character advocate, citi- zen of character, neigh- bourhood of . character, school of character, edu- cator of character, Wendel Clark sports award, pur- suing character through the , character hero, heal care worker of character, customer ser- vice of character and change our world. Marty Deveny of Stoufl’ville received the Wendel Clark award for pursing victory with hon- our last yeax. Mr. Deveny, 47, has also coached rep hockey and football in Stouffvifle and Markham. He was recognized for starting and coaching a Special Olympics basket- ball team. Simple acts of Charac- ter are important to the community and need to for my community." Herem some quality diar- actet traits worth celebrat- Join us at anytime ' lntegrity D Compassion D Courage b Indusiveness b Fairness b Initiative > Perseverance > Respect b Responsibility Character counts Stoufivillc Sunâ€"Tribune I Saturday, Ian. 31, 2009