THUNDER BAY— On Monday at city hall, Mayor Ken Boshcoff and Age Friendly Thunder Bay marked the beginning of June seniors month with a flag raising and the 2025 Rebecca Johnson Age Friendly Senior Award.
Recipient of the annual Rebecca Johnson award, Eleanor Ashe, couldn’t believe it was her.
“It's something that you don't expect,” she said. “It's really an honour and such a privilege to be acknowledged in this form after doing something that you're so happy doing for so many years,”
“When you do volunteer work, you get back more than you can ever give,” she said.
Ashe, who has been a part of the cities volunteer association for the last twenty-five years, was nominated by her son for the award.
“As a mother, what can I say,” she said. “The most important people you want to impress are your children, and when they do something like this to show me that they were impressed with me, it is just overwhelming.”
“I'm still not over the fact that it was him that did it,” she said.
Donna Nagy, chair of Age Friendly Thunder Bay said that bringing light to the struggles seniors living in Thunder Bay and the surrounding districts face is crucial.
“It's gaining momentum,” she said. “People are understanding that there are more seniors and that we need to do what we can to help them.”
The population of community members living in Thunder Bay over the age of sixty-five is expected to reach thirty-three per cent over the next few years, said Nagy.
“We need to get ready,” she said. “We need to find out what these seniors need.”
“We are reaching out to isolated seniors that maybe have lost their significant other, don't drive, don't use the computer, we need to get in touch with those people,”
Information on available services, future events and nominations for the 2026 Rebecca Johnson award can be found here.
