The search for Alberta’s ‘most loving’ person came to an end last Friday in Stettler.

Madena Reimer, a resident of Athabasca, was awarded the free five-day trip to Hawaii courtesy of Cody and Eva Borek who won the trip when they purchased their new vehicle and decided to ‘pay it forward’.

The couple heard over 15,000 nominations on the facebook page they created and narrowed it down to 10 finalists, who they then invited to the Aspen Ford dealership in Stettler where they initially won the trip.

Reimer was ecstatic upon hearing her name called from the hat by Borek’s younger brother.

“I really did not expect to win,” said Reimer. “This is going to go down in history as one of the biggest days of my life and I will never forget this day.”

She told the crowd after the announcement that this contest has changed her life, as after her mother passed away nine weeks ago she had been feeling very down.

Reimer is most known to those who nominated her for the work she has done in raising both funds and awareness for cancer research.

“Medina is a two-time cancer survivor herself, and she is the driving coordinator for Road to Hope, so anyone who has cancer treatment appointments in the area, she drives them to and from their appointments,” explained Borek on what he heard from those who nominated Reimer. “But what we heard from the people who nominated her was more about the support she gives to them emotionally that really makes her wonderful. I’ve had so many people call me in tears because she means so much to them and she’s had such a big impact on so many people’s lives.

“It’s all the little things she does for people each day even though she herself was going through a tough time having lost her mom.”

In a surprising turn of events, Tim Berry, the dealer principal, made the announcement that three additional trips will be donated.

“Cody and Eva are easily two of the most loving people in Alberta,” stated Berry. “And I’d like nothing more than for them to join me in Hawaii.”

Berry added that this trip is “non-transferrable”.

“Eva and I spent so much time reading about all of these incredible people so it was hard for us to hear that we’d still be going when we know there are so many deserving people out there,” said Cody.

Along with the trip given to the Borek’, Aspen Ford also awarded a trip to Const. Robert Hynes out of Barrhead who is known to those who nominated him as the ‘dancing mountie’ and is well-known in the area for the work he does with fostering relationships between youth and the RCMP.

A fourth trip was donated to a silent auction based out of St. Albert, which is set to raise funds to support the family of Const. David Wynn, who lost his life earlier this month in a deadly shooting at the St. Albert Inn.

Cody explained he and Berry felt this was a great way to show their support to the many first responders who risk their lives everyday.

“He died taking care of our families so we need to show some support and help to take care of his.”

jswan@reddeerexpress.com