Prince George,. B.C.- Longtime northern social worker, Vincent Sherry, ( in photo at right) has been awarded the Bridget Moran Advancement of Social Work in Northern Communities Award.

 

Sherry came to Prince George 1976 and was involved in setting up St. Patrick’s Transition House and the Soup Bus – originally an old school bus. When the bus quit running, Vince asked St Vincent De Paul if the soup could be served from their kitchen.

 

While living in Dawson Creek in the early 1980s, Vince was instrumental in integrating individuals with special needs into the public school system. He also worked for many years with the McLeod Lake Indian Band and is well respected by the aboriginal community.At the Prince George Regional Correctional Centre and Hutda Lake, Vince led groups for men who had been abusive and continues with a range of group facilitation work today.

 

A long time member and activist in the BC Association of Social Workers and the BC Government Employees Union, Vince worked at the Ministry of Children and Family Development in Prince George and, in recent years, at Community Living BC. Forward thinking and concerned about persons with developmental disabilities in their older years, Vince is one of the organizers of the first northern conference on Developmental Disabilities and Aging to be held in Prince George on March 27^th and 28^th. 

 

Dawn Hemingway, Vice-Chair of the Northern Branch of the BC Association of Social Workers and Chair of the UNBC School of Social Work presented the award to Sherry at a special luncheon this week.

 

The award is named after the late Bridget Moran, a northern social work activist who was fired from her job in the 1960s for speaking out against the provincial government’s lack of appropriate social services for children and families. Although she won her fight and was reinstated, Bridget never went back to her provincial government position. She worked in other social work positions and became a well-known author with books such as Little Rebellions and Stoney Creek Woman. The Bridget Moran Award was established in March 2000 to pay lasting tribute to Bridget’s exemplary struggle for social justice.