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Food bank honours dedicated volunteers at Hubby Awards

The Hubby Awards were established by the Sudbury Food Bank six years ago in honour of Hubert Bray, a local lawyer and longtime food bank board president, who passed away in 2007.
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From left are Hubby Award winners Dr. Pablo Cano, Toula Sakellaris, Chris Sheridan, Jim Szilva and Ted Szilva. Inset: The Edgar Burton Youth Hubby Award was presented to St. David Catholic Elementary School May 7. Top row, from left, are Grade 8 student Drew Noble, principal Dawn Wemigwans, bottom row, from left are Grade 3 student Anthony Willis and Grade 2 student Sebastian Trudeau. Photos by Heidi Ulrichsen.
The Hubby Awards were established by the Sudbury Food Bank six years ago in honour of Hubert Bray, a local lawyer and longtime food bank board president, who passed away in 2007.

The awards are given to individuals or groups who, like Bray, have served the Sudbury community with compassion, dedication, integrity and hard work.

But this year's Hubby Awards ceremony, held May 7, will be the last.

Sudbury Food Bank executive director Dan Xilon explains his organization wants to change the format of the awards, working in conjunction with other organizations to recognize volunteers.

What format the awards program will take in future years is still in the works, he said.

This year's Hubby Awards went to Toula Sakellaris, Chris Sheridan, Dr. Pablo Cano and jointly to Ted Szilva and Jim Szilva. The Edgar Burton Youth Hubby Award went to St. David Catholic Elementary School.

Each recipient was presented with $2,000 — money raised through the awards luncheon — to put towards the charity of their choice. Over the past six years, $60,000 has been presented to 21 different charities.

“Sudbury has some incredible people that do some incredible stuff,” Xilon said. “I'm just so proud that the Hubbys have gone to very appropriate winners, in my opinion.”

Sakellaris, who has been involved with many different organizations over the years, including the Salvation Army, the Greater Sudbury Police Service board and the Greek community, said volunteer work is very important to her.

The owner of Apollo Restaurant said she came to Sudbury from Greece 50 years ago, when she was 15 years old.

“We have to give back to the community,” said Sakellaris, who gave her Hubby prize money to the Salvation Army. “That's how I feel, personally. Sudbury, Canada was very good to me, and I like to give back.”

Although Cano, an oncologist and rhematologist, has done volunteer work with organizations such as the Canadian Cancer Society and the Arthritis Society, he said he doesn't feel deserving of the award, although he's grateful.

Cano's prize money is being directed to a Rotary Club project helping those with autism in his native Peru.

“Being a physician, my task, my duty, is to be of service to the patients,” he said.

“I certainly enjoy doing so. I think it's a privilege to be of service to the people of this community ... If you get an award like this, it's like an extra bonus.”

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Heidi Ulrichsen

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