Cressy takes Founder’s Award and left

By Gerald V. Paul.
Community builder, fundraiser and eternal optimist, Gordon Cressy graced the African Canadian Achievement Awards, ACAA, last Saturday, accepted and thanked those members in the community whose shoulders he stood on, and left with the Founder’s Award of Distinction. Wait….he was in a rush to get on the next flight out of Pearson International Airport for his beloved Trinidad and Tobago- business, not Carnival, ent?

Gordon Cressy,  a distinguished gentleman received the Founder's Award of Distinction from corporate sponsor the Royal Bank of Canada.
Gordon Cressy, a distinguished gentleman received the Founder’s Award of Distinction from corporate sponsor the Royal Bank of Canada.

As a Canadian youth worker in Trinidad, where he helped to build the first YMCA on the island- opened in 1964. His vision and mission was to Tobago, spearing the building of the first ever YMCA- today, they have the finest swimming pool complex in all of Trinidad and Tobago.

And the Tobago House of Assembly was so pleased with the results, that they have asked the YMCA to design, build and operate a second facility up the island, in Kendal next to Roxborough, and that’s where Cressy was heading last Saturday night!

As president and founding CEO of the Learning Partnership, Cressy created the country’s first Take Our Kids to Work Day, which now involves more than 250,000 students and 75,000 businesses across Canada.

“Black History Month is an opportunity to honour the contributions of the Black women and men throughout our country’s history. We do this by learning about the struggles and the triumphs of the visionary Black pioneers who overcame barriers. All Ontarians stand with you in celebrating the extraordinary legacy of the Black community,” Premier Kathleen Wynne noted in her personal message from the Premier to the distinguished audience.

The ACAA celebrates the achievements, and pays tribute to the exemplary contributions of African Canadians to their community, and to the wider Canadian society.

The ACAA has also acted as a catalyst, inspiring many of our youth, and some adults, to pursue and attain success and excellence in their lives.