Moose Jaw Kinsmen Club named 2020 Group of the Year

Members of the Moose Jaw Kinsmen Club excitedly exchanged messages on social media after learning their organization had been named the 2020 Group of the Year.

The Moose Jaw & District Chamber of Commerce handed out the award during an online ceremony on Feb. 4. The Moose Jaw Heritage Advisory Committee also handed out its annual awards during the event.

The other group nominees included Moose Jaw Pride, SaskTel Pioneers, the volunteer group for the 2020 Scotties Tournament of Hearts, Seniors Centre Without Walls and WOW Factor Media.  

The award for 2020 Citizen of the Year went to John Iatridis.

“We really appreciate (winning the award). A lot of the guys in the club are excited about being nominated for this,” Cory Olafson, a long-time club and executive member, said afterward. It was easy to see the members’ smiles in the messages they exchanged online.

Olafson himself was previously named the 2018 Citizen of the Year. 

He says it is exciting to win the Group of the Year award, especially since this is the second time in roughly the last 11 years the group has received the honour, he continued. However, winning awards is not the reason members join the club. Instead, their goal is to make Moose Jaw a better place to live, similar to the other groups that were nominated.

Plenty of hard work and hundreds of hours — or sweat equity — go into the initiatives the club holds every year, but the group participated in fewer activities last year due to the pandemic, Olafson remarked. For example, the Kinsmen Club usually offers a safe ride home program for 35 to 40 corporate Christmas parties but did zero last year since there weren’t any such events.

However, 2020 wasn’t a complete write-off for projects. The organization supported the business community by purchasing gift cards and then auctioning them off with all proceeds given to the food bank. Furthermore, the club donated $25,000 to Moose Jaw Families for Change for a garden project, while it donated $100,000 for naming rights to a new playground in West Park.

“But I think this year, the cherry on top this year was the way we revamped the Kinsmen Santa Clause Parade,” Olafson said. “Obviously, with the restrictions in place, we took the parade to the citizens of Moose Jaw rather than them come to us. We (spent) 17 hours in the vehicle pulling Santa around town (over several nights) … .

“That was probably by far our best touchy-feely event of the year. We were all blown away by the success of it.”

During the nights when the club escorted Santa throughout the community, members noticed that some residents had beer and bratwurst on their driveways, he chuckled. However, what amazed them was how many people stood at their windows, front doors or on the streets to watch.

With Olafson riding in the lead police car some evenings, he was one of the first to see that support from the community. That enthusiasm also translated into collecting 8,000 pounds of food for the food bank. This was a bounty for the non-profit organization since its shelves needed to be replenished before Christmas.

The club has 20 members but could always use more, especially since they always have projects on the go, added Olafson. That would include its annual banquet, but that won’t be held this year for the first time in 29 years due to the pandemic. However, its weekly Chase the Ace fundraiser is still occurring.