LiveWorkPlay Celebrates 27th Anniversary with Community Partner Awards, Top 12 News Stories

LiveWorkPlay is a Canadian registered charity that helps the Ottawa area community welcome and include people with intellectual disabilities, autistic persons, and individuals with a dual diagnosis to live, work, and play as valued citizens. The organization marked its 27th anniversary at the annual Make A Buzz Ottawa celebration on May 5th with a live Zoom event that featured an online auction and a musical performance by Kenny Hayes. The auction exceeded the $5000 goal which was also matched with a donation from Pylon Electronics, announced as a "breaking news" segment during the event.

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"I am am happy to report  to the LiveWorkPlay community on behalf of CEO Paul Rose that Pylon Electronics is able to provide support to LiveWorkPlay for the 20th year in a row, and I am happy to announce a contribution of $5000 at Make A Buzz Ottawa 2022" said Jim Mullins, Vice-President, Pylon Electronics.

Another breaking news item featured Rachel Boutin from Statistics Canada who announced that the LiveWorkPlay employment initiative with the federal public service has resulted in hire number 150! "I am thrilled to announce that Jennifer Barr is hire number 150" said Boutin. "She is taking on the role of Administrative Assistant working with the Accessibility Secretariat and supporting the publishing of the first Statistics Canada multi-year accessibility plan."

Some of the annual awards were put on hold awaiting a post-pandemic ceremony, but guest host and advocacy ambassador Ryan Nevitt presented the Community Partner Awards to Cheryl Pooran or PooranLaw, David Chalmers of Nexus Human Capital, and Zach Dryman of CharityacCounts. "LiveWorkPlay not only endured through the pandemic, our staff and volunteer team continued learning and improving, and these three partners were on the leading-edge of making that happen" said Nevitt.

The top twelve stories of the year, based on objective social media analytics, came down to a virtual tie for first, with the September 26, 2021 story of LiveWorkPlay receiving the top award from Canadian Association for Supported Employment, edging out the motivational news from July 13. 2021 story that 100% of staff and 90% members had completed their vaccinations.

Before live music by Kenny Hayes, the event wrapped up with the awarding of the My Own Home bursary, $200 that goes to any person supported by LiveWorkPlay that moves to a home of their own in the community. Sponsor Barry Wellar presented the award to Heather Jenkins and Matt Crouse, who live with Ottawa non-profit housing providers Centretown Ottawa Citizens Corporation and Nepean Housing, respectively. "These are the 54th and 55th recipients, and it's my hope that by the time of the 30th anniversary in 2025, we can make it to 60! Wouldn't that be amazing."