The 2011 Leadership Award recipients are: Sandra Feng, Taylor Murphy, Sharmine Suganaqueb, Brazil Lee Poy and Kalli (Kathleen) Lang.

One of our recipients, Kallie Lang, would like you to know her story:

Every person in the grasp of this universe is very similar. We all have one heart, one mind; we are all made of the same ingredients, same skin, flesh, bones. But within the compound, each and every one of us is special, unique. Each one of us has their own story. This is mine.

Soon after rolling into high school, one will face many questions similar too "what do you have in mind for your future career?" and "are you going to post-secondary, for what?" One of them may have also been, "what is your long term goal?" I have been asked this plenty of times and had trouble answering it until one day I was suddenly hit with the answer. The perfect answer. 'My long term goal is to get 'better'. To always be reaching, no matter what for. If it's for simple things like knowledge, or to be a better artist, a better person, to know more about the world and what it has out there for me to learn about and explore.' A friend had once asked me this very question before I realised myself what my goal was. I answered, "I don't know. I just want to get better..." He replied, "That's good. If you're goal is to get better, you will go far (in life)." I will never forget those words because my eyes were opened that instant. Reaching for 'better' is infinite and nothing could stop me now.

---- http://www.darearts.com/pdfs/2011/Kallies_story.pdf (http://www.darearts.com/pdfs/2011/Kallies_story.pdf) to read the complete story

My motto has always been, "you only truly learn from experience." You won't know how to hold a hand until you feel another in your own and smile.

The rest of our teen recipients will share their stories at the Leadership Awards. This event is DAREarts main fundraising event. The funds raised go directly into the existing highly successful programs and outreach to include more children.

DAREarts annual Leadership Awards will include presentations of two cultural awards to Canada's leading artist, Charles Pachter C.M and retired CEO of Lombard Canada, Richard Patina, Canadian icons, for showing leadership in advancing Canadian culture in youth.

Past recipients of the DAREarts Cultural Award include: Eugene Levy, The Second City, General R.J. Hillier, Madame Aline Chretien, the Honourable James K. Bartleman, Robert Gillespie, Sonja and Tom Bata, George Chuvalo, Karen Kain, Paul Henderson and Albert Schultz.

Presenting: Event Sponsors for the gala are Lombard Canada, Guy Carpenter and Scotiabank.

Gold Sponsors are HKMB HUB International, BMO Financial Group, Noront Resources, and TD Financial Group.

Tickets are $300 per person or $3,000 for a corporate table and are available online at www.darearts.com (http://www.darearts.com) or by calling 905-729-0097.

For more information on DAREarts and how to get involved, please visit www.darearts.com (http://www.darearts.com)