The international story of the Central Albertan couple, Eva and Cody Borek, who have chosen to give away the free trip to Hawaii they won when purchasing their new vehicle from Aspen Ford in Stettler is soon to receive closure, as they will be picking a winner on Jan. 23rd.

The couple started a facebook page asking for Central Albertans to nominate individuals who they felt were the most loving person in Central Alberta.

However, after thousands of nominations from across the world starting pouring in, the contest has since been opened to the province of Alberta with a number of nominees being from the Red Deer area.

Recently they posted a list of on the giveaway’s facebook page, ‘Free Trip to Hawaii for the Most Loving Person in Central Alberta’ of more than 20 of the top contenders who he and his wife hope to narrow down to just 10 by this Friday.

Red Deer nominees mentioned on the list include Tom Raba, Brian Thomson, and Brian Harder.

Cody posted photos of nominations for the three, which detailed the selfless work the they have been doing which landed them in the giveaway.

A nomination on the page for Thomson mentions the work he does with his group ‘Home of Hope’ in which he travels the world rescuing babies and children.

Both Harder and Raba were nominated for the work they do on the streets of Red Deer in helping the homeless, including organizing breakfasts and dinners, helping to clothe them and providing general help to their communities.

However Harder has expressed his wish to the Boreks to not be included in the giveaway as he wishes to remain on the ‘frontlines’ of his cause where he feels he is most needed.

Diana Hurley Hobbs out of Blackfalds also appeared on the list.

Hurley Hobbs’ nomination stated she has served as an inspiration to hundreds of people after she lost 200 lbs and has since helped others to do the same. She gives both time and money regularly to various charities, hands out meals to the homeless, and much more.

Brandy Forgeron out of Lacombe has also received a large number of nominations, with Cody stating the nomination that stood out the most to him was an incident in which a woman from Saskatchewan’s son went missing. Without ever having met the woman, Forgeron went out of her way to call the woman, create a facebook page to help find the woman’s son, and even offered to drive to the hospital in Edmonton where the son was found and help him find his way home to his mother.

These few local people are but a fraction of the thousands of nominations the Boreks have received.

“Now is where it gets really difficult because I truly believe all of these people deserve a free trip, but it doesn’t matter to me who wins from this point because they are all really deserving,” said Cody.

“The list we posted so far is mainly just to give notice to the work these incredible people are doing and it’s going to be very difficult to narrow it down to 10.”

Cody stated that, “Without facebook the giveaway would not have reached as many people, there is no maybe about it. Social media has played one of the most important roles in giving recognition to these loving individuals from around our province and the world.

“I love that we are able to share their stories and groups/organizations that they have started! This has been inspiring even more people to join them and do loving things.”

Cody stated he hopes are that they can just continue to show how many incredible people there are in the world.

“And that we can change the news of the world from being so negative to more positive – that is my ultimate goal – I want to change the world to be able to have a more positive outlook on life.”

Cody and Eva will be announcing the 10 finalists this Friday on the giveaway’s facebook page and invite Alberta to join them on Jan. 23rd at Aspen Ford in Stettler for the announcement of the winner.

jswan@reddeerexpress.com