Arborg-Bifrost Parks & Recreation Commission recreation manager Tom Chwaliboga earned a People & Community Award from Recreation Manitoba for his outstanding contributions to sports, leisure and community service.
Council for the Town of Arborg had nominated Chwaliboga for the award, which recognizes a nominee’s dedication to and enthusiasm for recreational activities, leadership through developing programs, events and partnerships, mentorship and role-modelling and a willingness to learn and build capacity.
Chwaliboga, who joined the recreation commission in 1997, said recreational and sporting activities have always played a big role in his life and he enjoys bringing people together.
“Recreation, sport and leisure has always been a big part of my life and my family’s. I enjoy providing opportunities for residents of all ages to become active, even in a small way. Being active brings people together and this is almost, if not more important, as the activity,” said Chwaliboga. “The award is a nice recognition for the time and effort that someone puts into this profession and I would like to thank the Town of Arborg for nominating me.”
He said he’ll continue to reach out to more families in the area to entice them to take part in some of the recreational programs and activities, he said. And he recognizes that it’s volunteers and instructors who are integral to success.
“Community recreation and sport still relies on a number of individuals to make it a success, such as the volunteer coaches, who take the time and effort to become certified, fitness instructors. They spend countless numbers of hours working, planning and sharing their enthusiasm for the activity, as do the officials. Without them, many of these programs could not exist,” said Chwaliboga. “I would like to thank these people for making my job a little easier as they all do a great job.”
Town of Arborg mayor Peter Dueck congratulated Chwaliboga on earning the award and said the town looks forward to working alongside him for many more years to come.
“The Town of Arborg is very proud that Tom received the People & Community Award from Recreation Manitoba. Tom is certainly well deserving of this recognition with his 26-year history of being the recreation director for Arborg,” said Dueck. “Our community has grown a lot and changed in 26 years, but what has not changed is Tom’s readiness to do whatever it takes to offer, manage and deliver programs for all ages. A key quality in Tom is his ability to take initiative and responsibility to ensure that events happen and the details are looked after.”
Town of Arborg chief administrative officer Cindy Stansell put together the nomination package on behalf of council. The submission notes that Chwaliboga “excelled” in many sports while growing up and that he later pursued a career in recreation, encouraging children and seniors alike to stay active.
“Tom is extremely dedicated to not only his role as recreation director, but also to his community of Arborg. Tom is determined to ensure the success of programming in the community and goes as far as to provide instruction for some of these programs,” wrote Stansell in her submission. “Tom is self-motivated and is always mindful of the long-term future of the community. Tom’s skills with the public provide him with the ability to encourage community members to become involved in recreation as well as to volunteer within the community. Tom has been a driving force behind many programs and events as well as the construction of a new Aquatic Centre in 2009.”
Chwaliboga was able to expand recreational program offerings since starting with the commission 27 years ago. He started a youth curling program in 2005, entered into a partnership 10 years ago with NHL goalie James Reimer – who grew up in the Arborg area – to encourage kids to play hockey, revitalized youth baseball, and brought pickleball to the community in conjunction with a local club. The commission currently offers over 50 programs for all ages.
“Tom has brought many new programs to the community and has also worked tirelessly to ensure that many recreation opportunities remain in the community,” wrote Stansell. “The Town of Arborg has grown tremendously recently with many newcomers from many different countries in the world. He has introduced newcomers to existing recreation programs as well as worked with the newcomers to offer new recreation programming from their home countries, for e.g., futsal.”
In addition to creating new recreational and sporting opportunities, Chwaliboga provides instruction for some programs, including youth curling, and trains instructors and referees, Stansell said. He also donates his time in other ways to the benefit of the community, including emergency sandbagging during a in 2021.
Recreation Manitoba held an awards luncheon March 15 and handed out awards in a number of different categories including a nature, health & wellbeing and therapeutic recreation. To see the winners, visit recreationmb.ca/awards-program
