Louise & Eric Moore Award

Louise & Eric Moore Award for Outstanding Heritage Volunteerism

Volunteers play a critical role on many fronts across our diverse and impactful heritage sector.  I was reminded of that in speaking with Louise Moore last year.  Louise’s husband, Eric, had recently passed away and bequeathed a donation to us.

Both Louise and Eric were dedicated volunteers at our past Bytown Days and Heritage Day events—warmly greeting and orienting participants and the public in French and English.

Born in the UK Lake District, Eric served on our Board from 2005-2007 and also volunteered with the British Isles Family History Society of Greater Ottawa for 25 years and with Friends of the Ottawa Public Library.

A former Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada employee, on retirement, he served as a volunteer president of the Friends of the Central Experimental Farm for 7 years, and on the CEF advisory council.  Louise too volunteered with the Friends of the Farm since their beginning.

At Heritage Day in 2020, the Capital Heritage Connexion presented the inaugural Louise & Eric Moore Award for Outstanding Heritage Volunteerism to Louise Moore.

2024 Recipient

Brian Jeffrey is a volunteer at the Diefenbunker: Canada’s Cold War Museum in Carp. If you’ve been to the Diefenbunker and gone on one of their amazing tours, you have Brian to thank for it. Brian not only gives tours (and is a highly rated guide in visitor reviews) but he literally wrote the Diefenbunker’s Guide Book that is used to train all the Bunker’s guides. Brian has been volunteering there for 28 years and devoted 495 volunteer hours…in 2023 alone! His passion stems from the direct ties he has with the Cold War history, and his own past as a worker on the DEW Line in Canada’s north when the threat of nuclear war loomed.

When informed that he would be receiving the Louise & Eric Moore Award at Heritage Day Brian expressed his immense gratitude in these humbling words:

What can I say? I’m totally taken aback by this honour. Volunteers don’t do what they do for awards, they generally do what they do for one of three (or all three) reasons which are:
  1. An interest (or passion) for the subject, in this case, heritage.
  2. An interest (or passion) for the place, in this case the Diefenbunker (and the DEWLine ).
  3. Or because of an internal drive (or passion) to be of value to others.
    4. I’m delighted to accept this award, and honour, on behalf of volunteers everywhere.