A student and an instructor from Red River College were among the honourees at a recent event recognizing the best and brightest of Portage la Prairie’s business and volunteer communities.

The Portage & District Chamber of Commerce’s annual Best Business Awards were held Oct. 20, 2011, at the William Glesby Centre in Portage. Among those honoured was RRC student Christina Trandifir, who picked up the Chamber’s Youth Volunteer of the Year Award for her ongoing work with a number of local organizations.

A first-year student in RRC’s Business Administration program, Trandifir (who’s completing her studies at the College’s Notre Dame Campus) played an instrumental role in the Portage la Prairie Community Revitalization Corporation’s “Sharing Our World” event, and has also served as an in-school mentor for Big Brothers/Big Sisters of Portage la Prairie, a Children’s Day volunteer at the Glesby Centre, and a volunteer for the MS Society of Manitoba’s annual MS Walk.

Coincidentally, Big Brothers/Big Sisters of Portage was also honoured at the event, where it received the award for Outstanding Contribution to the Community by a Business. The award was accepted by longtime executive director Dawn Froese, who is also an instructor at RRC’s Portage Campus, where she teaches courses in the Administrative Assistant and Business and Administrative Studies programs.

Click here for a full list of award winners.

Shown above: RRC instructor Dawn Froese (right), in her capacity as Executive Director of Big Brothers/Big Sisters of Portage la Prairie, with (from left) Earl Porter, Mayor of Portage; Ian Wishert, MLA for Portage; and Daniel Bolton, President of the Portage & District Chamber of Commerce