Outstanding NeighbourLink volunteer
wins Volunteer Calgary award
by Alexis Bevan
Howard Christensen
must be Calgary’s most travelled man – within the
city limits, mind you. He’s journeyed not so much to
the far corners of the world as to the deep pockets
of the quadrants.
“The girls upstairs
knew very well that if they had a hamper to deliver
that nobody else could take, it didn’t matter, I’d
go anywhere for them,” said Christensen, 82.
The ‘girls upstairs’
are NeighbourLink’s HelpLine operators – women on
the frontlines of Calgary’s war on poverty.
Calgarians in need
phone them in order to access free furniture,
household items, baby supplies, bus tickets, Calgary
Food Bank hamper deliveries and more.
| That way the
money clients do have can be used to keep a
roof over their heads – because what good is
a bed without a room in which to sleep, or a
crib when you and your child are living in
and out of shelters?
The ‘deliveries’
part is where Christensen has driven up,
stepped out and filled the gap for
NeighbourLink clients during the past seven
and a half years. Seven and a half hours is
approximately how much time he spent
volunteering each weekday, delivering food
hampers in the mornings and baby needs in
the afternoons.
“Oh, I’ve got
memories!” says Christensen as he recounts
some of his experiences on the doorsteps of
low-income Calgarians’ homes and lives.
One time, a
hungry little boy didn’t have to say too
much to express his appreciation for
Christensen’s drop-off. |
 |
“He looked at all
those bags of groceries, and he ran over and put his
arms around them and said, ‘Mommy, food, food!’”
Another delivery
introduced him to a Nigerian man who had only been
in Canada for three days.“He didn’t look like he was
very healthy,” said Christensen, “[but] he said, ‘I
know God will see me through this.’”
God has seen
Christensen himself through difficult times,
including the death of his beloved wife Edith, an
ongoing thorn-in-his-side hiatus hernia and most
recently, a heart attack, which forced him to stop
volunteering altogether.
“I was kind of a
basket case,” said Christensen about his wife’s
passing in 2003. It was out of that time of deep
distress that he came to serve on NeighbourLink’s
board for two years, then begin delivering.
But what started as
only a daily distraction soon became his life’s
dedication. Not only did he deliver groceries and
infant essentials to his neighbours in need, but he
also delivered hope.
He began sharing his
faith with each client who seemed open to it,
reciting in their presence memorized words that had
sustained him as he travelled through the gullies of
his own life.
“Do not let your
hearts be troubled. Trust in God…” He prayed for
those who needed prayer: “The tears were streaming
down her face and she said, ‘No one has ever prayed
for me.’”
And he connected to
churches those who needed spiritual care. “She was
crying by the time I was finished…From what I
understand now, she’s very active in the church.”
It’s because
Christensen has been so active at NeighbourLink that
thousands of men, women and children haven’t gone
wanting for food or baby necessities very long.
Clients call the HelpLine asking for him.
That’s why it wasn’t
a surprise to anyone but Christensen when he won the
‘Volunteer in Profile for 2011’ award at Volunteer
Calgary’s Leadership Awards on April 13.
“I felt really good.
I had my grandson there,” said Christensen, who also
rubbed shoulders with Premier Ed Stelmach and Mayor
Naheed Nenshi at the event.
As for his entire
volunteering career, Christensen said, “I enjoyed
every minute of it.”
For more info about NeighbourLink and how to
volunteer or donate, please phone LeeAnne at
403-538-7314.