Eleven Semiahmoo Peninsula residents have done their community proud, winning two of three Giving Hearts awards to be presented next week in Vancouver on National Philanthropy Day.

The recipients, announced Friday afternoon, include Robert and Florence Hassell – who kicked off Peace Arch Hospital's ongoing fundraising campaign with a $3-million donation – and the nine teenage girls who call themselves Angel Wings.

To be presented at a luncheon Tuesday at the Westin Bayshore by the Association of Fundraising Professionals Vancouver chapter and Compton Fundraising Consultants, the awards are divided into three categories: Outstanding Philanthropists (the Hassells), Outstanding Youth Philanthropists (Angel Wings) and Outstanding Corporation (Canada Safeway).

Robert W. Hassell was chairman of the Peace Arch Hospital board in the 1960s. The couple's donation – the largest in hospital history – is part of a $32-million expansion-and-modernization campaign announced in 2007.

Former partner in Hassell Brothers Construction, he and three brothers began the business with land-clearing jobs around the Peninsula, acquiring a small tractor and bulldozers along the way, and eventually moving into road and airport construction.

Chairman and president of Pacific Enterprises, and owner of residential, commercial and hotel properties in Canada, the U.S. and Mexico, Hassell told Peace Arch News in 2007 that he always had a soft spot for White Rock and the Peninsula since his family moved here when he was 14.

“This has always been my community and my home,” he said.

Associated with the hospital since he and his brothers built the basement for the original White Rock hospital in the early 1950s, he is credited with being the driving force behind the 1968 expansion that created Peace Arch District Hospital.

Angel Wings – a group of teens who raised money for the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation by selling beads – was formed in 2008 by 13-year-old Cailyn Conci and eight of her friends in honour of her mother Donna, who died of breast cancer in October 2007. (Tragically, Conci also lost her brother Aaron earlier this year to a car accident.)

Although their first efforts at fundraising for the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation brought in $500, they have since raised thousands more through other efforts, helping to raise awareness and inspire others in the community.

Canada Safeway donates more that $19 million annually to research and other community organizations.

For more information, visit www.afpvancouver.org