Humphries named Citizen of the Year

Humphries named Citizen of the Year
Patricia 'Tish' Humphries was named the Citizen of the Year at the 11th annual South Glengarry Business & Community Awards banquet on Saturday

WILLIAMSTOWN, Ont. – Patricia ‘Tish’ Humphries has been named South Glengarry’s Citizen of the Year.

Humphries graduated as a Registered Nurse in 1977, married her husband Ralph and moved to their farm on Highway 34 north of Lancaster where they raised their four children.

Throughout her children’s school years, Humphries was a member of the Iona Academy PTA for 14 years, serving as president for seven of those years.

She was also an executive member of the Char-Lan Skating Club during this time and was a founding member of the Charlottenburg Neighborhood Watch.

Humphries and her family faced the challenges of raising a child with special needs and she took note of the lack of support programs for those facing these issues.

Armed with the knowledge that traditional support networks for developmentally challenged adults ended at age 21, a group of concerned parents and educators formed a grassroots group in 2009 to discuss their concerns for dependent adults and the Beyond 21 group was born.

Humphries was elected as president of the Beyond 21 board of directors in 2011, a position that she still holds today.

She has led the team at Beyond 21 to receive two Ontario Trillium grants, which has enabled the program to grow from serving five families to 34 families from SD&G.

Humphries was also active with the Cornwall Community Hospital Foundation’s “To Your Health” campaign, which raised funds for the CCH’s MRI and urology table.

She engaged the residents of South Glengarry and North Glengarry and is now actively engaged in the CCH’s chemotherapy project.

In 2015, Humphries hosted a “Chemo for Christmas” holiday open house at her home and in lieu of hostess gifts, requested that guests make a donation instead – raising $3,600 towards the project.

Event orgnizers described her as a friend, mentor, and a champion for those in need – a true role model and community leader.

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