Habitat for Humanity Edmonton has been transforming lives since 1991, and we’ve seen many parents and children build strength, stability, and independence thanks to the incredible dedication of all our supporters. On Thursday, May 26th, Habitat Edmonton celebrated the contributions of all its volunteers at our inaugural Supporter Appreciation Event. The event, held at ReStore South, recognized the extraordinary 2021 volunteer service hours of all our volunteers, and drew over 120 volunteers, staff members, and donors who made a tangible difference to the lives of the families we serve.
About the event
This past year we had over 1000 individuals, businesses who supported Habitat financially, and 270 new donors who have stepped up to support Habitat. In addition, there were also 931 volunteers who volunteered at our ReStores, build sites, offices, events – and any other number of Habitat activities, giving over 38,000 hours of their time in 2021. When you volunteer or donate to Habitat Edmonton, you are not only contributing to our daily operations, but most importantly, to the lives of families who are achieving their dream of homeownership. And for that, we are so grateful.
Volunteer achievements and awards
Forty-four individuals were recognized for their incredible dedication and commitment to our homeowners by contributing over 16,000 volunteer hours – that’s 42% of all volunteers hours for the year! We really do have the best volunteers! View the full list here.
Our long-service award volunteers (below) have been involved with ReStore, lawn maintenance, upcycling, home checks, construction, flyer delivery and buybacks.
| 3 years of volunteer service | Inez Smith Marilyn McNally | Sandi Draper | Jenny Morrow |
| 5 years of volunteer service | Geoff Baxter John Lee | Glenn Shanahan Greg Schoengut | Kathryn Morris Peter Mickelsen |
| 10 years of volunteer service | John Fukushima | Judy Paynter | |
| 15 years of volunteer service | Bill Webb | Elaine Wagner | Max Vandersteen |
| Special Contribution Award | Donna Pryor | Geoff Baxter | Max & Leslie Vandersteen |
| Group Award for Excellence | Students for Habitat – University of Alberta |
25 years of volunteer service
Don Neufeld has volunteered for us for 25 years. He is a former board member, and has assisted us to develop our database, trouble shoot IT, has done our accounting, and has worked closely with our database manager for many years – along with a myriad of other contributions. Don has volunteered extensively with Habitat Edmonton, contributing his time and talent every week, and in that time has contributed over 20,000 hours to Habitat for Humanity Edmonton.
30 years of volunteer service
Hank Fast has volunteered extensively over the past thirty years. He was a board member for this affiliate when it first launched and has continued to support us over the years – most recently at our ReStores. Hank has been involved with special events, construction, and photo archiving, but his largest contribution of time has been at the ReStore with almost 5,000 hours over the years. Fun fact about Hank – he makes beautiful and intricate bird houses that he donates for us to sell at the ReStore
Ziegler Award of Excellence
This award was named after Chuck Zeigler, a long-time and dedicated volunteer for our ReStore in the early years. The award results from nominations brought forward from each of our local stores. This year, our winner is Paul Meade-Clift, who volunteers primarily at ReStore South. Over the years, he has helped us in other areas, but his favorite area is the workshop that is all about sustainability where he and others fix bicycles, test lights, fix items for sale and generally rescue our landfill from garbage
Construction Award of Excellence
Allan Byer has volunteered with us since 2017 and has assisted with Carter Place, Fort Saskatchewan, landscaping, our prefab shop, and most recently, he volunteered extensively for our Spruce Grove site, juggling his preferred dates to fill empty spots in the schedule for us. A skilled construction volunteer, Allan has been a crew leader for us for several years. He also helps at special events. We are so grateful for his steady, consistent presence.
Habitat Edmonton thanks all our supporters for a wonderful evening, and most importantly, for your time and efforts – we’re not exaggerating when we say we could not do what we do without you! If you are interested in volunteering us, click here for more information on how you can get involved.
