LiveWorkPlay Featured as CTV Ottawa “Amazing People” Nominees
Thanks to a nomination by the 20th Anniversary Committee of Jennifer Harris, Ian and Warren Murphy, and Cooper Gage, LiveWorkPlay was featured last week with a 4-minute evening and late news recorded segment on Thursday, and about 7 minutes in-studio on Friday for the News at Noon. Built around the organization’s co-founders Julie Kingstone and Keenan Wellar, the features came to life with the contributions of Ryan Nevitt, Madonna Nevitt, Caroline Matte, Lyse Frenette-Touchette for the recorded segment, and a group of nine supporters in the studio (meet them all in the video).
Hosted by Leanne Cusack, Amazing People is all about bringing good news in the Ottawa community to life, and viewers are clearly responding. LiveWorkPlay was swamped with telephone, email, Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube well-wishers.
Caroline described LiveWorkPlay as “like family” and Ryan talked about how he “has changed a lot thanks to LiveWorkPlay and I’m happy with the growth I have made.” Speaking live in the studio, Constance Hudak talked about how her son Peter Keay has benefited and made note of his jobs and social life and the resulting “terrific sense of self-worth.” Long-serving board member and chair Cecelia Taylor spoke of the hard work and sacrifice involved, and longtime staff member Jen Bosworth talked about “dynamic leadership.”
“This has been a very humbling experience,” says Keenan. “We’ve received awards and honours before, but I guess what really choked me up about this was how the Amazing People feature drove home what Caroline was saying about LiveWorkPlay being like family. I might have the ‘helper’ label in this situation but I can’t begin to count the number of ways and the number of times that the people who participated directly in the story have helped me. And now for example we have business people like Andrew Bearss who just keeping say ‘yes’ and making the time because they share our belief in a more inclusive community. It’s overwhelming at times!”
“Sometimes when you have your nose to the grindstone it’s possible to briefly lose touch with all the good that is being done,” says Julie. “When you hear the thoughtful and insightful comments coming from members, family, partners, volunteers, and colleagues I feel really grounded in what my daily work is all about, and energized for my part in the next 20 years of LiveWorkPlay success.”
The official LiveWorkPlay anniversary celebration takes place on June 4th at Engines of Success. This event will sell out, and tickets are now on sale.