Big Brothers Big Sisters of Weyburn announced that Heidi Vogel, a volunteer for their organization, won the 2020 Lawney Donaldson Community Builder Award. Heidi had the opportunity to meet Lawney Donaldson, whom the award is named after, and they completed a video that shares their stories about being a Big volunteer through the organization.
Heidi has been a dedicated volunteer in Weyburn since 2016. She is currently a Big Sister to Kia and Elijah. Throughout the years, Heidi has also been an amazing Go Girls Mentor – facilitating 13 different groups and mentoring over 90 young people.
“I was quite shocked when I learned I had won the award. I knew about the award, but did not know that I was nominated for the award,” said Heidi.
She learned about winning the award when Amy Noureldin, regional director of Big Brothers and Big Sisters of Regina, and Dominka Krzeminska, executive director of Big Brothers and Big Sisters of Regina, had reached out to arrange a Zoom call.
“When we were on the Zoom call, I was asked if I remembered the award, and then I was told that I was the one who won it this year,” said Heidi.
She said that the idea of doing some youth mentoring was the reason that she started to volunteer for Big Brothers Big Sisters. “It has meant everything to me to be a mentor, and it is a big highlight in my life. These last five years have meant a lot to me,” said Heidi.
It was also important for Heidi to introduce the Go Girls program to the Weyburn area. “Based on the program, I knew it was something I wanted to do. And it all worked out.”
Heidi highly recommends anyone who is interested in becoming a volunteer or a mentor with the organization, to contact Big Brothers Big Sisters.
“For myself, it has my changed the path of my life. I started doing this, then helped organize the Go Girl groups, and now I am going to school to become a Youth Care Worker. For me, it has been a big deal. For anyone who wants to get involved, it is really simple and especially when you are helping to mentor a youth.”
