Businessman, student named Hamilton’s Citizens of the Year
By Steve Arnold, Hamilton Spectator
Muneeb Muzaffar is the recipient of this year’s Hamilton Spectator Youth Volunteer Award.
A businessman with an open chequebook for community causes and a Stoney Creek student with a flair for bringing people together are 2015’s Citizens of the Year.
Insurance broker Dan Lawrie and Orchard Park Secondary School student Muneeb Muzaffar will receive their awards at a Hamilton Chamber of Commerce reception March 31.
Lawrie called the latest award for his philanthropy “humbling” given the quality of previous winners.
“It’s very honouring and humbling to be recognized this way because there are so many great people in our community,” he said. “It’s very humbling to have 35 years of community involvement recognized like this.”
While Lawrie lives in Burlington, his business, Dan Lawrie Insurance Brokers, has been a downtown Hamilton fixture for 40 years.
In his nomination for the annual honour, Lawrie was described as a “passionate supporter” of Hamilton and its development and “a citizen that models the behaviour of giving back to his community” and who “does not just contribute in one year; he has consistently and quietly contributed in many ways, over many years.”
Those consistent and quiet contributions have included personal donations of $125,000 to Mohawk College in support of the Centres of Excellence in Insurance and Financial Services and $1 million over several years from his family foundation to the Royal Botanical Gardens’ new sculpture garden. His company was the very first sponsor of the Gallery of Distinction Awards, an initiative he still supports.
Lawrie’s philanthropy also reaches across the bay to Burlington, where he has received the Burlington Chamber of Commerce Distinguished Entrepreneur of the Year award and was nominated for a business in the arts award.
Lawrie’s business now employs 100 people, people whose work he credits with allowing his philanthropic ventures.
“It’s an honour and a privilege to be able to give back to the community,” he said. “I have to remember there are so many great people in our company, it’s not all me.”
Lawrie added he hopes his giving to the community will inspire others to do what they can. His award is sponsored by RBC Royal Bank.
For Muzaffar, the award is a real morale boost.
He was chosen over five other finalists for The Hamilton Spectator Youth Volunteer Award for his work at Orchard Park Secondary School, where he leads a number of groups including the Student Leadership Team, Transition Team (ECHO) and various athletic groups.
His nomination describes him as having “a rare ability to create cohesion among students who otherwise may not speak to each other; he is able to make everyone feel like a valuable member of his team.”
“There’s a great sense of personal achievement with this,” he said. “It has really given me some honour for what I’m doing. It shows that people in the community are looking at what I’ve done.”
Among his activities, Muzaffar has headed up the school’s antibullying initiatives, including co-ordinating Grade 9 workshops and running school-wide inclusivity games. He also spends countless hours volunteering to with youth programs aimed at bringing people together and showing them how they can contribute to their community.
Among his achievements, he organized a Youth Focus Group where he applied for and received funding to run a nine-week program for 16 at-risk youth. The group met Friday nights and focused on character-building and honing leadership skills. The group has worked together to create and maintain community gardens where residents in need of food are welcome to pick their produce.
He is also active in CityKidz.
Muzaffar said he was inspired to work for the community by the example of his parents “who have worked so hard to get where they are. Their example is wood for the fire.”
He hopes his example inspires others.
“It’s about making positive change in the community.”
The awards will be presented March 31 at Horizon Utilities on Hughson Street North. The reception starts at 5:30 p.m. with the ceremony at 6:15. Attendance is limited to those who RSVP. Details are on the Chamber of Commerce website: hamiltonchamber.ca.
Updated on Tuesday, March 29, 2016.