Del Guercio humbled to receive award

 

Laurence Heinen – Times Contributor

 

In his position as rodeo and chuckwagon chairman for the Strathmore Heritage Days Stampede, Pascal Del Guercio doesn’t expect any recognition.

In fact, he was all prepared to hand out an award for volunteerism last Sunday until he discovered that he was the one being honoured with the Keith Schneider Award of Excellence instead.

“When I was watching the monitor, it wasn’t until that moment that my name came up that it shocked me to know that somebody had blindsided me,” Del Guercio said. “If this was Survivor I’d be off the island.”

An initiative of the Strathmore and District Agricultural Society and the Heritage Days Stampede rodeo committee, Del Guercio said the award was created to honour a deserving volunteer who dedicates time and effort to promote Heritage Days.

“I’m fortunate enough to have it in the second year,” said Del Guercio, who was pleased to accept the award named after Strathmore’s long-time mayor. “He was the mayor here for 16 years and he was our biggest support whenever we wanted to do anything in this sport. The town was right behind us when we wanted to build a grandstand and threw money in. Any promotion, they were there. He personally showed up at all banquets and promotional activities in Calgary and Edmonton. He was 100 per cent behind it. He kind of helped inspire all of us.”

Since the award bears his name, Schneider decided that Del Guercio was a worthy recipient and he must have had a lot of help to keep it a secret until Sunday.

“They got me this time,” Del Guercio said. “I’ve come to find out that there were a lot of people behind it. That means a lot when you’re recognized a lot by the majority of your peers. It felt nice. It’s a very, very heart-warming award.”