Maxine Roness Vaughan Civic Hero Award
Ward 4 resident Maxine Roness was presented with the City's Civic Hero Award in recognition of her commitment to help others and her work on community issues.
Maxine Roness - Ward 4 Civic Hero Award, 2008
Ms. Roness is the Executive Director of the Kids Come First Child Care Centre in Thornhill. Founded in 1992 as a charitable organization, Kids Come First is a licensed child care centre providing preschool, nursery school, kindergarten and school-aged children's programs. Ms. Roness developed the Kids Come First curriculum to offer high quality and innovative programs. In 2004, the Centre won the Donner Canadian Foundation Award for Child Care, Canada's most prestigious award for non-profit organizations.
Through the Centre, Ms. Roness organizes the annual Between Friends Aboriginal Clothing and Book Drive to send clothing, books, toys and other household items to aboriginal communities in northern Ontario. In 2003, and again in 2008, the Centre received an Ontario Trillium Foundation grant to expand the program, due to its enormous success. Between Friends also was awarded the 2008 June Callwood Award for Outstanding Achievement in Volunteerism in Ontario and the 2008 Organization of Character Award for York Region.
In addition to not-for-profit work, Ms. Roness has been involved in a variety of community issues, including traffic calming and neighbourhood safety.