ICABC Awards for Early Achievement - Institute of Chartered ...

Deeply committed to helping immigrants inhis community, Mike worked with the CathaySenior Citizens Housing Society to providehousing for residents displaced by a fire thatdestroyed Nanaimo’s entire Chinatown districtin 1960. With the Chinese Memorial Society, hehelped raise funds to restore a neglected Chinesecemetery; on completion of the reconstruction,this cemetery was donated to the City for publicuse. Mike also helped establish a garden commemoratingthe area’s Chinese pioneers.In 1999, the City recognized his myriad effortswith a Certificate of Recognition.Today, Mike is a committee member of theNanaimo Dragonboat Festival Society, whichhe helped to establish. The Society raises fundsto donate to the Nanaimo Regional GeneralHospital for the purchase of breast cancerdiagnostic equipment. He is also the currentpresident of the Nanaimo Chinese CulturalSociety.“Volunteering has brought me a lot of joy andsome wonderful friendships,” Mike says. “I’msure I have gained more than I have given.”Jaime Roberts,CAJaime Roberts has participatedin Victoria-areasoccer programs since1996, when she moved toVictoria from her hometownof Campbell River(where her father DennisBerntson, CA, is a public practitioner) to attendthe University of Victoria. Over the past 13years, Jaime has contributed to the BC GovernmentEmployees Co-Ed Soccer Society as aplayer and a team manager, has competed intwo women’s summer leagues, and has coacheda local girls team. But her most extensiveinvolvement has been with the Gordon HeadSoccer Association (GHSA), a community-basedsoccer club with approximately 1,200 members.Jaime was invited to join the club’s board ofdirectors as treasurer in 2004, shortly after shequalified as a CA.“I’d enjoyed the benefits of being a player withthe club for approximately eight years at thatpoint, so it seemed only reasonable that I shouldgive something back,” Jaime remembers. “Also,I’d just taken a job as controller of the VictoriaGolf Club, and I thought the added hands-onaccounting and board experience I would get frombeing treasurer at GHSA would be beneficial inmy new job.”After serving as treasurer for three years, Jaimedidn’t step down from the board—instead, shetransitioned into a new role as the club’s volunteercoordinator. With only a handful of peoplevolunteering in the club’s day-to-day operationsat the time, the workload was becomingdifficult to manage. In her new role, Jaime wastasked with increasing the number of volunteersand linking them to jobs.One of her first coups was to recruit RichardHalliburton, CA, the father of two childrenin the GHSA program, to serve as the board’snew treasurer. Many other calls, however, wentunanswered. So Jaime helped the boardimplement a new participation fee and policy inan effort to turn things around.As a result of this new, formal policy, volunteerparticipation is up dramatically. In addition toredistributing the workload, this increasedinvolvement has helped keep costs down,making the club more affordable and accessiblefor kids in the community.Jaime’s many other contributions to theGHSA include serving as team coordinator ofthe Division 2 Women’s team since 2007, andhelping with everything from funding and grantapplications to facilities usage and communications.In 2008, she also helped the club’sFundraising Committee raise $85,000 towardbuilding an $800,000 artificial turf soccer field.“I’ve enjoyed seeing these things happen,”Jaime says. “And I’ve enjoyed meeting all of thedifferent people at the GHSA. This experiencehas given me a greater appreciation for what ittakes to make a club like this run smoothly. Ihave a lot of respect for the dedication of everycoach, manager, board member, and volunteer—theyare the heart of these organizations.”Since joining BC Ferries as a senior financial analystin 2006, Jaime has participated in the BCFerry Employees Community Breakfast program,which provides hot meals to the homeless severaltimes per year.Cecil Schmidt,BA, CACecil Schmidt has beenan active volunteer inthe Vernon Communityfor more than 40 years.His dedication is attributable,in large part, tothe example set by hisparents. As a young boy growing up in thePrairies in the 1930s and ’40s, Cecil watched hisparents eke out a living farming on rented landand working for others.“They never had much of a chance,” he says,“but they were determined to provide a bettereducation for their family.”In tenth grade, Cecil’s parents sent him to aboarding school run by Benedictine monks. Themonks, he says, “provided excellent teachingand character building,” and their dedication toservice made a lasting impression.Cecil initially pursued social work as a career,but shifted his focus to accounting after movingto Calgary and entering a five-year studentprogram with what was then Collins & Collins.In 1968, he accepted an invitation to moveto Vernon and work with the same firm,which later became Collins Barrow (now BDODunwoody LLP). He retired from the firm’spartnership 20 years ago, and from the office 15years ago.One of the first clients with whom Cecilworked was the Vernon & District Associationfor the Mentally Handicapped. This provedpivotal, he says, as it introduced him tolocal-area charities. He is still involved with theAssociation, and his 30+ years of service haveincluded acting as president for one term and astreasurer for several years.Over the years, he has volunteered withmultiple organizations in almost every sectorof Vernon life. These include the Vernon &District Performing Arts Centre (foundingmember), the North Okanagan CommunityConcert Association, the Vernon Curling Club(now a life member), the North Okanagan CAAssociation (for which he served as presidentfrom 1985 to 1987), the United Way, theVernon & District Immigration Services Society(VDISS), and the Boys and Girls Club.In addition, Cecil is an active member of St.James Catholic Church, and has served as amember of the church’s finance committee. Healso served on the board of St. James School, andserved as president for one term. Today, he continuesto serve as a lay assistant at Sundaycontinued on page 37June/Summer ’09 ica.bc.ca 15