Awarded on: 2001-11-13
Mark Salvador, Oakville, Ontario
Governor General's Caring Canadian Award
Mark Salvador gives selflessly of his time to his community. During high school, he volunteered on a regular basis at the Toronto Daily Bread Food Bank. When he began his studies at Queen's University, he quickly became involved in the John Howard Society visiting inmates at the Kingston Penitentiary. In 1998, he founded the Random Acts of Kindness Foundation for Kingston, promoting the power and importance of simple human kindness. For months Mr. Salvador visited shop owners asking for donations, and wrote and attached little notes with optimistic messages to the items he received. Then, on a designated day, he, along with the mayor and other volunteers, handed out more than 1 000 small gifts to people in the community as random acts of kindness.