PRESS RELEASE: New Board Elected for 24/25 Year

Character Abbotsford has elected a new board for the 2024/2025 year.

Pictured left to right: Colin Watson, Darcy Halber, Shirley Wilson, Andrea Critchley, Jory Smallenberg (Vice Chair), Vijay Manuel (Chair)

Not pictured: Sir James Barlow (Secretary), Bev Olfert (Treasurer)

Character Abbotsford has elected a new board for the 2024/2025 year. Returning board members are Sir James Barlow, Vijay Manuel, Bev Olfert, Jory Smallenberg, and Shirley Wilson. New to the board this year are Andrea Critchley, Executive Director of Abbotsford Hospice and Grief Support Society, Darcy Halber, Executive Director of Abbotsford Restorative Justice and Advocacy Association, and Abbotsford Police Chief Constable Colin Watson.

The council plans to host three events that will be open to the public: A Speaker Event on November 7th, 2024 that will feature 2024 Canadian Olympic Silver Medalist, Shalaya Valenzuela, a visit to the new Abbotsford Plasma Donor Centre on January 9th, 2025, and the Character In Action Awards Presentations on May 8th, 2025. The public will also be invited to nominate an unsung hero to be recognized at the event. Each of these events will be open to the public and Abbotsford citizens are invited to nominate someone for an award at CharacterAbbotsford.com/get-involved.

At the inaugural meeting of the year, Vijay Manuel, Board Chair, reminded the council of what Character Abbotsford is, and what Character Abbotsford is not. According to Manuel and as articulated on their website, the council is “a group of passionate leaders that desire to INSPIRE character in their citizens, ENGAGE and EQUIP leaders to model and teach character, and who use their INFLUENCE to positively impact the Abbotsford community.” He went on to explain that this group is not the ‘character police’, it is not religious, and it is not political. Manuel continued: “Rather, the Character Council believes that values like respect, responsibility, integrity, and empathy are universally felt at the core of every human being, no matter who one is or what their background may be.”

The Character Council meets 5 times each year.  For more information, visit CharacterAbbotsford.com