Adam Prudhomme
Editor
Recognizing her efforts to bring the Napanee Rotary Park and Rotary youth exchange program to life, Greater Napanee’s Cynthia Surette has been named a Royal Bank of Canada Global Citizen.
The award is presented to RBC employees around the world who are active volunteers both inside and outside the company. As a member of the Napanee Rotary Club since 2011, Surette fits that description perfectly. Before arriving to Greater Napanee she was involved with Amnesty International Canada for over 20 years, where she participated in humanitarian trips to Haiti. Within RBC she volunteers with the RBC Future Launch to help younger Canadians prepare for the workforce.
In town, her most recognizable contribution is likely the fully accessible Rotary Park, which opened on Pearl Street in June 2017.
“In 2014/15, that’s when we talked as a club that our project should be a park,” recalled Surette. “We acknowledged that there wasn’t a major park in Napanee and it had been identified as part of a report that had been done recently as a priority for the community. Because we had that site for the splash pad, we started working immediately during my presidential year on creating the connections to the community and the town to get the support that we needed to fundraise and develop that project.”
A few short years later, the park was opened and remains a popular spot for local kids as well as an attraction for young families from the surrounding area.
Surette has also spearheaded Rotary’s youth exchange program, which has brought students from Turkey, Sweden and Taiwan for visits to Greater Napanee.
Originally announced as an award winner in 2020, part of being named an RBC Global Citizen meant Surette would have the opportunity to take part in a humanitarian trip to Kenya. She was set to travel to Africa last April before the global pandemic cancelled the trip.
Instead, RBC has decided to donate $5,000 to a charity of Surette’s choice, which was the Community Foundation for Lennox and Addington’s No Poverty 180 Degrees Fund. Surette said she chose that charity based on presentations made to the Rotary Club and seeing the work they do.
“We are thrilled to be receiving RBC’s $5,000 gift that recognizes Cynthia’s exceptional commitment to her communities,” said Bob Childs, executive director for the Community Foundation for L&A. “This donation is a boost for our No Poverty 180 Degree Fund which will soon be making annual charitable grants to local projects aimed at reducing and eliminating the impact of poverty in our communities.”
Though she says she’s honoured to receive the award, Surette says that’s not why she volunteers.
“I’ve been taught and raised to give back,” she said. “I’ve been blessed with a lot in this life. My main concern now is giving where I see the need and where I can and also teaching my kids those values. That’s where RBC aligns with my values so I was really happy that it worked out.”