DIGBY, N.S- Greg Turner was presented with the 2018 Joe Casey Humanitarian Award in Digby.
The award ceremony was held on June 22 at the Digby cenotaph.
Turner is the eighth winner of the annual award. The Joe Casey award is presented to a person who has made significant contribution to the betterment of the Town of Digby.
“He probably should have been rewarded a long time ago,” said Mayor Ben Cleveland, the master of the ceremony.
Turner is always helping the Digby Area.
He was a teacher at Digby Regional High School for 31 years.
He was a co-advisor for the Envirothon from 1994-2012 and helped eight Envirothon teams to provincial championships.
Turner sat on the school construction committee where he assisted planning the demolition of the old school and the construction of the current school.
He helped start minor soccer in Digby and kept the program running for 20 years. He was very involved as a coach, on the board, as a referee and a referee trainer.
He has served on church council and he’s a member of the choir at Trinity Anglican Church.
Turner was a member of the Smith’s Cove fire department for 14 years and during that time he was president of the District 8 Fire Commission and Secretary of the Department.
He was active in founding the ‘Friends of Point Prim’, serving on the board as a volunteer looking after the lighthouse since 2009.
Turner created the Fundy Erratics hiking club.
He became the chairperson for the Digby Area Tourism Association in 2015, and membership numbers have doubled since he began the role.
He attends many events throughout the County dressed as Digby’s founder Admiral Digby.
Turner assists with grant requests for tourism promotion projects in the area. He always promotes the Digby Area at the Saltscapes expo and this year he represented the town at the Boston Globe Travel Show.
Mayor Cleveland announced all the reasons why Turner was receiving the award before announcing his name.
“Up until a few minutes ago, I didn’t know who he was talking about,” Turner joked.
“I’m truly humbled by this,” he added.
The Casey family addressed Turner, thanking him for all the work he’s done for the town.
Turner also thanked the Casey family for taking part in the award celebration.
“Joe Casey was a highly respected man and to receive this award, it’s an honor,” he said.
