Currently serving his third term as President of the New Hamburg Board of Trade, Paul has been a vocal spokesperson for the community in the battle to keep Highway 7&8 in its current route and configuration through New Hamburg. In this capacity, he has met the Minister of Transportation Jim Bradley, lobbied the Ministry of Transportation and local government figures, and escorted the MoT experts on a whirlwind tour of local businesses, where they received first-hand accounts of the disastrous impacts of any change.
Paul was also a founder of the New Hamburg Flood Relief Fund, which responded to the disastrous late-2008 Nith River Flood with a one-time community fundraising effort which produced $60,000 to assist people left in crisis by the unprecedented flood waters.
He has helped raise funds for Wilmot Family Resource Centre and Food Bank through the New Hamburg Dickens' Christmas Carol readings and other projects. In 2009, Paul co-founded and organized the not-for-profit New Hamburg Live! Festival of the Arts, an annual event that brings the best in music, art and literature to the community.
Paul was the founding chair of the Wilmot Citizens of the Year program, and of the Board of Castle Kilbride National Historic Site. He has also served as chair of the New Hamburg Canada Day Committee. Always interested in local heritage, Paul has volunteered with Doors Open Waterloo, the New Hamburg 150th Anniversary Celebration, and as events coordinator for the Ontario-Alsace Association, an organization which arranged exchange programs between Wilmot Township and the region of Alsace France which has a close, historic link with the St. Agatha area.
He has also written three books about Wilmot's heritage "Castle Kilbride, The Jewel of Wilmot Township", "Piecemakers, The Story of the Ontario Mennonite Relief Sale and Quilt Auction", and "A History of New Hamburg."
Paul has volunteered in many other community programs and events, stacking pies and collecting garbage at the Mennonite Relief Sale, selling sausage on a bun during Sidewalk Sale Days, tagging ducks for the Rubber Duck Race, helping organize Santa Claus Parades, coaching a team in the Wilmot District Soccer Club, organizing charity golf tournaments at Dundee, and more.
In recognition of his community service, Paul has received the Governor General's Medal for Community Service, a Conseil General Haut Rhin [Alsace, France] Medal, a Township of Wilmot Medallion, and the CARE Stratford Environmental Leader Award.
Paul is active in the Anglican Church on the local and the Diocesan level, as a member of the Anglican Diocese of Huron Strategic Planning Task Force and a member of of Diocesan Council. Since 1997, Paul has worked as an independent writer and editor, contributing to many publications including Forever Young, Ontario Gardener, Exchange Magazine for Business, the Toronto Sun, the Ottawa Citizen, Visitor, and, of course, the New Hamburg Independent.
He has a BA (University of Waterloo), a BTh (Emmanuel Bible College) and an MA (Wilfrid Laurier University).
Paul is a proud parent and grandparent. Paul and his wife Nancy, who is the pastor of Zion United Church, make their home in New Hamburg; both are committed to the ongoing, growing community life of Wilmot township. |
