2023 Community Wellbeing recipients
Calgary
Merv Graham
Merv has been a volunteer at the Greater Forest Lawn 55+ Society for over 20 years. He fixes bicycles for Calgarians in need. He also volunteers in partnership with Youth en Route to help fix and deliver more than 300 bicycles a year to schools in Calgary.
Alex Duica
Alex has been volunteering with the Helping Families Handle Cancer Foundation for the past 8 years. She led numerous programs to support families whose children will not survive their cancer diagnosis and those who have lost a child to pediatric cancer.
Robin Strathdee
Robin provides supports by offering help wherever needed at the Hospice Calgary Society. She is always thinking of ways she can help others feel engaged, peaceful and comforted.
Jane Miller
Jane has been a volunteer with the Leftovers Foundation since 2020. She frequently volunteers with her husband and together they have redirected more than 35,000 pounds of food, putting in more than 200 hours and driving more than 4,500 kilometres to get good food to people in Airdrie who need it.
Linda O’Hanlon
Linda has been a volunteer with the Mount Pleasant Community Association for more than 10 years. She helps provide seniors with classes that support mental and physical health. She also organizes various activities to ensure seniors feel connected to their peers and their neighbourhood.
Shayne Kuzek
Shayne has developed inclusion initiatives to expand membership to more than 500 members and making the sport accessible to both older and younger generations. He also organizes league nights, manages the club house and the greens, promotes the club and hosts community welcome events.
Mindy Ages
Mindy joined the Street Sisters Society as a student and is now on the board of directors. She provides support for various programs.
William Lamptey
William has been volunteering with the Church of Pentecost Canada – Calgary Food Bank for the past 3 years. He coordinates food pickup, training of volunteers, writing proposals for grants and offers technical support.
Melanie Harris
Melanie has been a volunteer at the Veterans Association Food Bank for more than 3 years. She has helped many veterans navigate the claims process with the federal government and works hard to ensure every veteran she interacts with has the supports they need. She raises public awareness to the mental health and physical challenges faced by veterans across the province.
Cyril (Terry) DeFreitas
Cyril has been a volunteer with the YMCA Calgary for more than 5 years. He volunteers for 3 different soccer programs, but also frequently steps in to lend a helping hand with basketball tournaments and coaching. Terry frequently supports organizing fundraising initiatives by donating his time at various branch events and being an ambassador for YMCA Calgary.
Central Alberta
Priscilla Carlick
Priscilla has been volunteering with the Alberta Beach and District Museum and Archives Society for 3 years, providing support for local Indigenous programs.
Louise Krewusik
Louise is responsible for organizing and managing a volunteer committee to plan and deliver programs and activities. She also helps to recruit club members to sign up as volunteers to deliver programs and activities.
Brigitte Lacroix
Brigitte helps deliver peer support and social arts and recreation programming that connects clients with each other and the community.
Lonnie Stewardson
Lonnie is a volunteer referee that encourages swim meets where the emphasis is on positivity, personal growth and sportsmanship.
Erin Colucci
Erin assist individuals with various disabilities both on and off the ice. She contributes and supports the physical, mental and social wellbeing of the participants in the program.
Lesley Crawford
Lesley volunteers for the twice-annual book sales and curates an ongoing book sale at the library. She raises nearly $6,000 yearly for the organization, helping purchase much-needed library resources such as a circulation desk and new furniture.
Sieger Siderius
Seiger leads the Leduc & District Food Bank’s annual food drive and virtual auction. He also volunteers at any event where help is needed.
Zolton Libra
Zolton has been a volunteer with the Leduc Regional Housing Foundation for more than 40 years. As an entertainer, he encourages residents to be physically active by getting up and dancing and he also like to bring humour with jokes and stories.
Sharon Cornelius
Sharon has been a volunteer with the Light Up Your Life Tri-Community Palliative Hospice Care Society for more than 20 years. She supports those in need with visits, literature and educational training courses.
Diane Brookman
Diane has been a volunteer for the Fort Saskatchewan Food Gatherers Society for more than 20 years. She completes various tasks and is a mentor for other volunteers.
Trisha Vyse
Trisha has been a volunteer with the Tri Legion Pay Forward Kindness Society for over 5 years. She provides support for events and helps to deliver meals and basic necessities to those in need.
Monica Cappis
Monica provides continuous support with the scheduling of volunteers, stocking, pickups, registering, paperwork and more.
Elda Strome
Elda has been a volunteer with the Westlock Golden Age Senior Citizen’s Drop-In-Center for almost 20 years. She is committed to the senior’s physical, mental and social wellbeing. She organizes monthly lunches and events for anyone to attend.
Edmonton
Terence Rudge
Terence has been volunteering with the Alzheimer Society of Alberta and Northwest Territories since 2019. He provides support for members and helps organize events.
Sheung Chung Chiu
Sheung has been volunteering with the ASSIST Community Services Centre for the past 9 years. He organizes activities for seniors, teaches English and encourages physical activity.
Jason Yeung
Jason has been a volunteer since 2004—one of the organization’s longest standing volunteer. He has volunteered more than 2,400 hours and has taken more than 1,100 distress line calls.
Daniel Cole
Daniel has been volunteering with CapitalCare Grandview since 2013. He helps residents living with cognitive impairment and organizes various activities.
Carl Woloschuk
Carl volunteers in recreation, spiritual care, provides mealtime assistance and is also a friendly visitor providing companionship to residents. He aids many departments so more residents participate in fun activities that provide physical, mental and social interaction.
Greg Laskey
Greg has been volunteering with Chrysalis for the past 12 years. He organizes weekly activities and helps individuals improve their public speaking, communication and leadership skills.
Sundas Shamshad
Sundas has been a volunteer with the Compassion House Foundation since 2017. She since helped to put in place a cancer support group in Fort McMurray. The group offers support, resources and a message of hope and compassion, helping to ease the distress of the cancer journey for women in her community.
Punch Jackson
Punch offers his time and expertise to help new programs get off the ground and mentor shed leaders. He also publishes a weekly newsletter called Men's Sheds Across the World that promotes the program globally across the thousands of shed programs worldwide.
Cameron Reid
Cameron has been a volunteer for the Edmonton Epilepsy Association for a few decades. He leads the free Epilepsy Information Booklet program—the only one in North America. He also does manual work and works on hands-on projects that helps the community of people living with epilepsy.
Kaleb Litschel
Kaleb has been a volunteer at the Edmonton Father’s House for more than 10 years. He hands out food, blankets, drinks and clothing to the homeless population in the inner city in Edmonton every Tuesday night.
Vincent Campbell
Vincent helps to deliver meals and recruits numerous volunteers to support the organization. He often volunteers with members of his family.
Nellie Wong
Nellie helps her community by salvaging the good fresh food that comes to the organization from places such as farmers markets and other sources. She also guides special needs volunteers and other seniors.
Aliya Rota
Aliya put an integrated data management system in place to gauge the metrics of the new strategic direction of the organization. She was able to provide digital music during the COVID-19 pandemic as part of a renewed donor campaign.
Lorraine Haggerty
Lorraine has been a volunteer at the iHuman Youth Society of Edmonton for more than a year. She helps at special events and can make everyone feel welcomed and cared for.
Ron Ferguson
Ron has been a volunteer with the Mill Woods Seniors Association for over a year now. He helps in the kitchen with meal preparation, cleaning and organizing. He also helps with building maintenance.
Gord Riggs
Gord provides seniors with a comforting social presence. He is always ready to help in any way he can with a smile and a positive attitude.
Donna Coble
Donna has been volunteering with the Sage Seniors Association since 2012. She volunteers hundreds of hours annually to help low-income seniors at the Seniors Tax Clinic. She also provides support to the other tax clinic volunteers.
Tracy Pham
Tracy has been volunteering with the Sexual Assault Centre of Edmonton since 2019. She provides phone, text and chat support on the Support and Information Line, as well as Alberta’s One Line for Sexual Violence. She also offers support with administration duties, fundraising and community events.
Orysia Boychuk
Orysia is the president of the Ukrainian Canadian Congress—Alberta Provincial Council and helps provide humanitarian aid and navigation for Ukrainian newcomers. She also builds relationships with other organizations that can provide services to newcomers.
Cameron Reid
Cameron has been volunteering with United Way of the Alberta Capital Region for more than 40 years. He provides warehouse support, shipping and receiving supplies and donations, counts inventory and sets up the warehouse to receive groups of volunteers by organizing supplies for easy access.
Michelle Aberant
Michelle has been a volunteer with the Youth Empowerment & Support Services for several years. She impacts the mental wellbeing of the youth by giving them the opportunity to engage with animals in a healthy, safe and controlled environment. She brings trusted dogs with exceptional behavioural qualities to programming, which allows youth to engage with them and create lasting and positive memories.
Fort McMurray
Corinna Pitzel-O’Hanley
Corinna has been leading the Autism Society of the RMWB for the past 7 years. She created several programs for families in need to fill gaps within the community.
Tina Black
Tina has been a volunteer at the Fort McKay Women’s Association (operating as Fort McKay Wellness Center) for more than 10 years. She volunteers on the Board of Directors and at the new Elsie Fabian School. She is an advocate for healthy wellbeing for all, especially for the children and youth.
Grande Prairie
Corrie Funk
Corrie is the the organizer and administrator for the Power Soccer Program. The program has reached provincial and national recognition resulting in team Canada athletes attending the Swan City Power Soccer clinics that Corrie organizes each year.
Lethbridge
Chad Chief Moon
Chad has been a volunteer with the Lethbridge Sport Council since 2019. He is passionate about providing positive holistic sport experiences and empowering youth through any activity that promotes an active lifestyle. He is dedicated to Indigenous youth—he understands the challenges and is committed to helping them succeed.
Darlene Fitz-Gerald
Darlene has been volunteering with the Lethbridge Therapeutic Riding Association since 2018. She provides services to individuals with disabilities and marginalized groups.
Dallas Sleightholm
Dallas has been volunteering with the Nord-Bridge Senior Citizens Association since 2016. He volunteers many hours a week helping in the kitchen.
Krysty Thomas
Krysty has been volunteering with United Way Lethbridge & South Western Alberta Society for more than 4 years. She leads the Impact and Allocations Committee to ensure donations go to the right organizations and people. She also volunteered at various events and mentored other volunteers.
Medicine Hat
Heidi Mitchell
Heidi volunteers in two separate departments and helps mentor new volunteers in their positions. She advocates for seniors’ health and wellness and provides support for the Meals on Wheels program.
Northern Alberta
Krystal Zahara
Krystal is one of the founders of the organization. She has strong connections with the homeless population and helps to provide shelter for clients.
Bernadette Wlad
Bernadette has been involved with the Central Peace Health Complex Hospital Auxiliary for the past 25 years. She advocates the health and wellbeing of all residents and patients in the local hospital, attracting and welcoming new members, as well as promoting the auxiliary at various public events.
Brooke Vining
Brooke has been volunteering with Cold Lake Pride for the past year. She helps implement events and activities that seek to promote diversity in the community and bring positive interactions with community members and organizations.
Carla Day
Carla has been a volunteer and president at the Gordondale Community Club for more than 10 years. She helped to build a community facility where she now manages the events as well as getting all the groceries and doing the catering. She helps with events for all age groups, from youth to seniors.
Eugene Lebas
Eugene has been volunteering with Kisdport – Lac La Biche Chapter for more than 20 years. He has raised hundreds of thousands of dollars over the years through relationship building and community connections. He provides the supports the community kids need to overcome barriers to participate in sport.
Louise Beatch
Louise has been a volunteer for the Lac La Biche Royal Purple Number 309 for more than 50 years. She volunteers doing bingos and casinos, the organization’s main fundraising events. She also encourages other members to participate in Purple Thursday, where toiletries are purchased and then donated to Hope Haven Women's shelter.
Jeremy McCracken
Jeremy helps facilitate programs, develops new initiatives, teaches juggling and guitar, fundraising and serves as a board member.
Elizabeth Boyle
Elizabeth helps with everything from transportation to medical appointments, helping seniors with errands and phone call check-ins. She adapts to support the needs of as many clients as possible and in as many ways as possible.
Red Deer
Marlyne Adams
Marlyne has been volunteering with the Lending Cupboard Society of Alberta for more than 6 years. As a retired nurse, she assists clients with their medical equipment needs. She also takes part in various fundraising activities.
Southern Alberta
Devonna Nagy
Devonna has been volunteering for the City of Chestermere for more than 10 years. She helps with community events and related logistics.
Aline Garant
Aline has been volunteering with the Cochrane Search and Rescue Association for the past 11 years. She provides fundamental support in emergency situations and supports individuals in difficult times.
Berverly Jestin
Beverly develops new literacy and activity kits designed to engage multiple age groups with varying levels of physical and mental abilities. She has engaged a growing number of families and individuals to reacquaint themselves with the library both in-person and remotely.
Theron Black
Theron is the founder of the Honouring Traditions and Reconciliation Society and helps bring western medicine and traditional healing together for people with addiction and housing challenges.
Katie Dunn
Katie manages family application at the Hope 4 MVC Kids Society. She supports families through programs, but also provides emotional support when needed.
Daniel Gascon
Daniel organizes food donations for those who are un, or under, employed, picks up furniture for newcomers, tracks down resources and meets needs for the organization and for those who access our services. He recruits other volunteers and is quick to praise people for their community work and show appreciation for the efforts of other volunteers.
Chelan Barnes
Chelan volunteers in various programs within the organization including Story Dogs and Meals on Wheels. She helps to develop and sustain healthy and thriving residents through a variety of programs and services.
Jennifer Pick
Jennifer has been a volunteer at the North Rocky View Community Links since 2022. She took part in the clothing donation program ensuring low-income families have access to suitable and seasonal clothing. She also acted as a tax volunteer, supporting residents to have their taxes completed ensuring access to refunds and benefits.
Jaide Kee
Jaide helped put the job board at the resource center in place which helps individuals secure employment opportunities that positively affect their physical and financial health. She also works with a diverse clientele by promoting inclusivity and providing equal access to job opportunities for individuals from various backgrounds.
Melvin Oerlemans
Melvin has been volunteering with the Redcliff Senior Citizen Society for more than 20 years. He has contributed to the community by organizing, setting up and taking down events.
Dan Sarty
Dan leads programming, attends every meeting and participates in planning, organizing and implementing all aspects of the organization. He also helps with maintenance when needed.
Diane Cammaert
Diane has been a volunteer at the Wheatland & Area Hospice Society for more than 6 years. She started the organization’s outreach program that has provided early, upstream support to more than 100 families and patients. Diane also provides customized supports for patients and caregivers and family.
Brandy Hebbes
Brandy has been a volunteer at the Wheatland Society of the Arts for more than 30 years. She helped secure sustainability of the organization through building strong partnerships with other community entities, such as the schools, Children's' Services, seniors support groups, municipal governments and other community-based service providers.
