Contest Winner: An Officer and a Gentleman

Will Gonell

GonellHomes

Toronto, Ont.

GonellHomes.ca

Regular readers should recognize Will Gonell from the cover of our February/March 2017 issue. The former U.S. Marine and New York City police officer, moved to Canada six years ago and has been building a high-end renovation business ever since. But not one to forgo his past, Gonell donates time as part of the Community Police Liaison Committee with 22 Division in his adopted home city of Toronto. 

When tensions between the public and the police began to rise Stateside and trickle into our city last year, I thought this was a good opportunity for me as a civilian to lend my experience as an officer to the community at hand, and hopefully help to provide a balanced perspective to the conversation.

The Community Police Liaison Committee encourages community engagement via youth-oriented crime prevention projects, education and awareness, and fundraising for youth scholarships. As a civilian and retired police officer, I’m able to see both sides of the equation, topic of discussion, or community concern.

Early in my career as a rookie officer, I spent a lot of time with senior officers who taught me that the key to good policing was to get the community involved. It’s very rewarding to work with young people in the neighbourhood – helping youth via education and programs.

As cliché as it may sound, the motto “to serve and protect” is very much a part of who I am as a general contractor. Homeowners put their trust in me to protect their family investment, and my job is to serve these families in providing a no-hassle, safe environment for them to enjoy.

Will Gonell won a skid of DRIcore subflooring, courtesy of DRIcore Products.

We’d like to make sharing our readers’ passions an ongoing part of the magazine. If you think you’ve got a better tale to tell, send it to Allan Britnell: allan@renocontractor.ca.