FERGUS – Crime Stoppers Guelph Wellington (CSGW) was recognized by the Ontario Association of Crime Stoppers (OACS) at the annual conference this year held in North Bay, June 6 to 8.
The Marla Moon Memorial Award of Excellence (pop. 100,001-299,999) is presented to the program that “best demonstrates its commitment to the Crime Stoppers mission through its basic responsibilities and its efforts at community outreach and partnership,” officials state.
The award is based on the number of tips and how successful they are, amount of community engagement through volunteers, media engagement, special projects, and other efforts that elevate the program’s impact on Community Safety.
CSGW first won this award in 2015 and has received the hardware every year since.
“It’s rewarding to see the hard work being done at [CSGW] is being recognized,” said program coordinator Sarah Bowers-Peter.
“We promote these successes so that the public can see the work we do is being recognized at the provincial level, and they can have a level of confidence in Crime Stoppers Guelph Wellington.”
No other program has won the overall excellence award 10 times, never mind 10 years in a row.
There are 36 programs operating in Ontario with a majority of programs in the 100,001-299,999 population category.
This award was one of four presented to CSGW.
It was named as developing the “Best Student Engagement (pop. 100,001-299,999)” concept for its cyber safety presentation.
Svensson proudly holding his award. Submitted photos
The presentation, created and launched in 2024 by CSGW in response to the continued increase in youth exploitation, was endorsed by local school boards.
Bowers-Peter delivered 80 presentations to elementary and secondary school students from September to December 2024.
Students completed surveys developed by each school board to measure the effectiveness of the presentations.
“Response was overwhelmingly positive both in survey feedback and in person interaction,” officials state.
Online Excellence is an open class where all size Crime Stoppers programs compete for recognition of online engagement.
CSGW won the award with recognition for the program’s website csgw.tips and its social media platforms, including Facebook, X (Twitter), Instagram, YouTube and LinkedIn.Long serving board member John Svensson was nominated by CSGW Board Chair Dave Elloway for the OACS President’s Award.
This award recognizes outstanding contributions to the program as well as key attributes such as “reliability, tenacity, initiative, leadership and integrity.”
“Svensson, who joined CSGW in 2004, was an easy choice for the award given his breadth of knowledge, experience and dedication to the Crime Stoppers movement,” officials state.
“These awards received by Crime Stoppers Guelph Wellington are a measure of the effectiveness of the program itself,” said CSGW board chair Dave Elloway.
“The real beneficiaries are the communities we provide programs and services to, not the CSGW program itself, as we work with our community partners to contribute to improving community safety,” Elloway continued.
