Bill Hall may or may not be a familiar face to Battlefords residents. But regardless of whether you know him, almost everyone in the Battlefords should be familiar with his work.
Hall has worked with the Battlefords Empty Stocking Fund and the Battlefords Food Resource Centre, both in leadership positions, and has also worked for the Food Banks Canada. Hall was honoured recently with a Queen's Diamond Jubilee medal for his work in the community.
Hall is not originally from the Battlefords, having been born and raised in a small mining community in Ontario. From there, he attended college in Texas and California. After graduating, he taught English at a refugee camp in northern Thailand for six months, after which he moved to Vancouver with his church, where he continued to teach English to new immigrants.
Bill and his wife reached the Battlefords in 1998, and his charitable work started shortly thereafter. Until its closure in 1999, Hall worked as the volunteer co-ordinator for the organization's empty stocking fund. From there, he became involved with the Empty Stocking Fund in 2002, as a co-chair. The 2002 campaign was left with $20,000 in the bank, and Hall was approached to set up a permanent food bank for the Battlefords.
After he became the Food Bank's executive director in 2003, he quickly became well-respected in the food bank community. He was asked to be one of two Saskatchewan members at the Canadian Association of Food Banks, where he participated in its restructuring process, and was also elected as the executive director of the Food Banks of Saskatchewan in 2007, a role he continues to occupy. Hall also serves as a pastor to three congregations, in Battleford, Saskatoon and Tisdale.
He was nominated for the medal by Wayne Helquist, a former CEO of the Regina Food Bank, former board chair for Food Banks Canada and now with the Global Food Banking Network. In introducing him, Helquist emphasized that, while he did not always see eye-to-eye with Hall when they worked together, he held deep respect for him.
"Certainly it was not a difficult decision to make," he said of his nomination of Hall. "Recognizing all of the things that Bill has done to contribute to not just this community, but to communities all across Saskatchewan and in fact all across Canada."
Describing the Food Bank that Hall had been so instrumental in setting up as a "first-class operation" and "one of the best little food banks that you're going to find anywhere across Canada or across North America," Helquist attributed much of its success to Hall.
Helquist also spoke glowingly of the work Hall has done with the Food Banks of Saskatchewan, as an unpaid executive director for a number of years, praising his passion, commitment and tenacity.
Hall was ultimately given the award in the small ceremony by Battlefords MLA Herb Cox, who spoke of how meaningful such events are to him.
"These are the kinds of people who build this community and strengthen the community, the province and Canada," adding that he also had the honour of calling Hall a personal friend.
The Diamond Jubilee Medal is a medal created in honour of the Queen's Diamond Jubilee and given to "honour significant contributions and achievements by Canadians." A total of 60,000 Canadians are likely to be given the medal, and several Battlefords residents, including Ray Fox, have already received their medals.
