A longtime Airdrie and District Victim Assistance Society (ADVAS) volunteer was recognized for her dedication with the 2018 Golden Heart Award. Sue Ferguson, who has volunteered with ADVAS for a decade, said she was humbled to receive the award. “It isn’t about the recipient, it’s about us recognizing each other,” Ferguson said. “To do this job, it takes a compassionate person, and we’re all so caring, so any one of us could have won the award. Everybody goes above and beyond. It isn’t just me.” According to ADVAS Volunteer Co-ordinator Colleen Maurice, the Golden Heart Award is presented each year to a volunteer who has shown outstanding, selfless effort to reach out to victims. The recipient of the award is selected by their fellow volunteers, she said, and Ferguson was a deserving recipient. “Her peers and staff will tell you the same thing – she’s super giving, she cares about the people she works with, she’s a great friend, she’s open-minded,” Maurice said. In 2018 Ferguson logged 261 volunteers hours, which Maurice said averages out to 21 hours per month – all while also working full time. “I was born and raised that you give back to your community,” Ferguson said. From a young age, that value was instilled in her, she said, especially by her father who worked as a firefighter and set a selfless example of dedication to the community. “It’s really important to help people and, basically, as our slogan says, get them from hurt to hope,” Ferguson said. “All of us go through our daily lives and, for the most part, everything seems normal. [Then] all of a sudden something happens and it impacts us, and we don’t even know where to turn for help. We don’t even know there are people out there who can help us. That’s our role – we want those people to know that there is a place they can turn.” Ferguson said volunteering is essential to creating a healthy, vibrant community. “There are so many places that need people – good people – to volunteer, whether it be a school or the library, just to make things run and have things available in our own community.” While many worthwhile organizations need volunteers, Ferguson said ADVAS’ mission – to support the victims of crime by providing a compassionate response along with emotional and practical assistance – resonated with her and seemed to fit her personality. Since she’s worked with the organization, she said she's felt like she’s found a home. “I always say, it isn’t about me,” Ferguson said. “We work in teams [and] I have a wonderful team, and we have such a wonderful group of volunteers. Any one of them could have gotten this.” Volunteers like Ferguson are crucial to the work ADVAS does, Maurice added. “We are a volunteer-run organization,” she said. “We’re 24/7 providing support to the RCMP. We just wouldn’t be able to manage the files and the need by the RCMP if we were staff only on the budget we have.”
