OUTniagara congratulates Celeste Turner, recipient of YMCA Peace Award for Youth

OUTniagara offers its congratulations to Celeste Turner, vice-chair of OUTniagara, for being one of four recipients of the YMCA Peace Award for Youth (under 30). Celeste received their award from YMCA of Niagara at a ceremony at Walker YMCA in St. Catharines on Nov. 21. It is the first year that the YMCA has had a youth-specific category.

Celeste is a youth outreach worker at Niagara Falls Community Health Centre, and they teach Rainbow Flow yoga classes. They identify as queer and gender queer.

According to the YMCA, “the YMCA Peace Medallion, introduced in 1987, offers a reminder that it is possible to build a more peaceful world, community by community, and that everyone can be engaged in these efforts. By highlighting peace concerns and celebrating others who share these values and are engaged in similar work, we remind the wider community that these concerns are a core part of the YMCA’s work.

“As part of Peace Week, the YMCA awards Peace Medallions to remarkable individuals or groups who, without any special resources, status, wealth or position, have demonstrated a commitment to building peace within their community or in communities elsewhere in the world. Peace Medallion recipients can be parents, students, community groups, people who have given freely of their time and talent to make local and global communities more peaceful places to live.”