TRACEY VIGARS.

• Author: Faye, Donna
• Position: Brief Article

Fundraising and event co-ordinator - North Bay

Her career path has been a long and winding road, but Tracey Vigars knows she is exactly where she belongs. Vigars, who was born and raised in Sudbury, graduated from high school, but admits she did not have the desire t pursue post-secondary education at the time. As a result, in 1987 when she arrived in North Bay, she found her employment choices limited, she says.

Vigars began volunteering in a psychiatric hospital - an experience she says helped her "take stock of how fortunate (she) was."

While Vigars had found clerical employment, her real joy was volunteering.

"I was getting my fulfilment through volunteer work, working with people w o shared a common goal and helping people earn money for their causes," Vigars says.

Vigars discovered h r knack for coming up with fundraising ideas while working at Benjamin-James Integrated Marketing Communications in North Bay.

"I used to come up with crazy ideas, and Ben Facella (one of the partners) would help me," Vigars says. "He never charged me agency fees. That was his contribution to the community."

As an active member of the Kiwanis Club, Vigars has promoted community projects such as the Kiwanis Music Festival, the Citizen of the Year Award Dinner and the Kiwanis Club Auction.

Her commitment to he betterment of the North Bay community has been evident through her leadership, influence and entrepreneurial vision - qualities which resulted in the community realizing a quarter of a million dollars for the benefit of the local hospital says Ted Hargreaves, a partner with BDO Dunwoody.

"Tracey is a selfless leading citizen that rallies individuals around a vision that resulted in positive community improvements and changes that can only be realized through trust and earned respect," Hargreaves states in a nomination letter.

"From health care, the arts, church restorations, civic leadership, tourism, service clubs, to family, Tracey Vigars is an example of one of North Bay's most influential and leading women."

Since 1990 Vigars has helped facilitate the North Bay Heritage Festival and Air Show - a major tourism event which attracts about 140,000 visitors annually.

One project that has attracted significant attention, not only in North Bay but also across the country, is the board game North Bay in a Box.

When...