Giving to community honoured
Fourteen-year-old Bruno DaSilva died in a car crash in 1996
By
KELLY PEDRO,
THE LONDON FREE PRESS
Lindsay Sleeth, a fourth-year health sciences student at
Western, is congratulated by Ed Holder after she
received the Bruno DaSilva Community Service Award
yesterday. (SUE REEVE/Sun Media)
Bruno DaSilva was captain of the hockey team, goalie on his
soccer team and an inspiration to other kids.
Yesterday, his parents --
London West MP Ed
Holder and wife Judite -- honoured the 14-year-old,
killed in a car crash in 1996, by handing out a scholarship
in his name.
Lindsay Sleeth, a fourth-year health sciences student at
Western, received the Bruno DaSilva Community Service Award,
worth $4,500. Holder thanked Sleeth, director of the health
sciences' dream team, a student-run group that raises money
for the southwestern Ontario chapter of the Make-A-Wish
Foundation, for her work in the community.
"We really wanted to honour you for your commitment to your
community. My little boy was like that and that's what
you've done -- you've honoured him."
Sleeth, 21, called the award amazing but said she didn't get
into volunteering for a financial prize.
A few years ago, she met the recipient of a wish. "The
happiness the entire family got from that one week was an
amazing experience. It was enough to make me want to keep
doing it."
It's the second year for the award, but this year is special
because the Make-A-Wish Foundation is about kids, Holder
said.
"When you can make the wish of a (terminally ill) child come
true, you're giving them a lifeline, you're giving them hope
and dignity. This is about someone making that commitment of
time to improve the life of Londoners."
DaSilva's friend, Ross Seabrook, 17, also died in the car
crash.
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