12th Annual Portraits of Giving

Celebrating the 12th annual Portraits of Giving across our York Region Communities

The 12th annual Portraits of Giving will be celebrating 21 individuals across nine municipalities — Newmarket, Richmond Hill, Vaughan, Markham, King, Stouffville, Aurora, East Gwillimbury, and Georgina — who exemplified the courage and perseverance of frontline work in 2021.

From mid-June to December, the Portraits of Giving exhibit will cycle through the nominees’ municipalities, displaying a personalized photograph of each honouree and a story of their giving. The NewRoads Automotive Group is proud to host the display here in Newmarket June 14 – 25th. Debora Kelly Newmarket Today’s community editor, is 2021’s Newmarket honouree. Debora’s long time support of the community as a volunteer and local journalist, as well as her participation in charitable events, was the deciding factor of her selection Karen Merk said.
NewRoad is no stranger to Deb Kelly’s community efforts. We work with Deb on community support efforts like Hope in Purple Heels, a fashion show dedicated to raise funds to build the first shelter of single women in York Region, known today as Belinda’s Place, Hugs for Hope where Deb and her team beat the GUINNESS WORLD RECORD for the most HUGS by a team of 8 in 60 minutes and finally Deb became a finalists in the 2021 NewRoads Women of Excellence Awards.
Our very own NewRoads President and CEO Michael Croxon was honoured in 2019 through Karen Merk’s efforts for the 10th annual portraits of giving.

“Just start with a initiative. If you are an employer, take up a cause close to your heart and involve your team; you will be in awe of what you receive in return.” – Michael Croxon.
A total of twenty-one individuals from across York Region who exemplify the importance of corporate and social responsibility will be honoured this year including…
Life Time Achievement: RAJ SETHI
Newmarket: DEB KELLY
Aurora: JENNIFER MILFORD
Richmond Hill: SUSAN APPLEBAUM & DELMANOR STAFF
King Township: DR. BARB WINSLOW
Markham: NISHA PUNJA, EVAN MacDONALD, SOFIE KOTSOPOLOUS
Vaughan : REPRESENTING THE LONGO’S TEAM: ROCCO AGOSTINO, SAVERIO CIPOLLONE, RENO PALERMO, FRANK SANGIRARDI
Georgina: MIKE, LAURIE & CRYSTAL CARRIERE
Stouffville Chamber of Commerce: ANGEL FREEDMAN
East Gwillimbury: MICHAEL LAVEE
York Regional Police: RETIRED DEPUTY CHIEF ANDRE CRAWFORD
Fire/Paramedic Services: SHANYN GODWARD
Sports: KRISTEN DAJIA
Benson Kearley SMAI Young Adult: NAILA VARAWALLA

To adhere to COVID-19 restrictions on public gatherings, the tour will be largely virtual again this year, available physically to a small number of guests and broadcast online to a wider audience.
From all of us at the NewRoads Automotive group we would like to thank Vanessa Wang for sharing her beautiful voice, Mayor John Taylor and MP Van Bynen for bringing greetings. Thank you to all the sponsors, volunteers and to Karen Merk for her vision and commitment to honouring our giving community for the past twelve year and hopefully for many years to come.

To learn more about our NewRoads Community Crew and were you might find us next visit newroads.ca/community… and remember Community Matters at NewRoads!
Kelly Broome
NewRoads Marketing, Communications & Community Relations