The Sarnia Community Foundation is recognizing the outstanding achievements of women from across the community.
Five women will be honoured during this year's Women of Excellence awards ceremony on June 8.
Foundation Spokesperson Jessica Martin said the afternoon luncheon will mark the first time they've hosted the event in person since 2019.
"We're celebrating five individual women from this year, and because the last two years the event has been remote, we're going to be celebrating those winners as well," said Martin. "Everyone's so supportive of all of the women who we're celebrating as well as our guest speakers. It's going to be a great event with a lot of really inspiring women."
The five award recipients are Madhu Baker, Kathy Bresett, Michelle Holbrook, Terry MacDonald and Deanna Sandrin. The two speakers are Sarnia Deputy Police Chief Julie Craddock, and Imperial Sarnia Complex Process Operations Manager Teresa Cassar.
Foundation Executive Director Mike Barron said they recently met with the speakers to break bread ahead of the event.
"The chemistry that we had just within the room was great," said Barron. "The talks really encompass what a community requires, having strong women leaders in a community make communities stronger. It's really inspiring and powerful."
Tickets for the event, from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. at the Dante Club, are $60 each or $500 for a table of eight. For more details, click here.
The Sarnia Community Foundation, founded 40 years ago, has given back over $7-million to support community organizations and projects in Sarnia-Lambton since 1983.
Barron said they currently manage a fund of about $12-million.
"And annually what happens, the dividend that comes out of that fund we then take and distribute to various nonprofits, social service organizations through grants, we have scholarships, we work with lots of community service organizations," he said. "Last year, we gave away over $750,000, and this year, it's predicted that we'll probably give away $1-million, which will be the first time that the organization will be able to do that."