Community Profile

Westminster Savings Credit Union & Community Volunteer Connections Community Volunteerism Award
Presenter: Diane Alfredson and Joan Hopper from Westminster Savings and Credit Union, and Stacey Ashton from Community Volunteer Connections.
Winner: COLLEEN TALBOT

Colleen Talbot has shown outstanding commitment to improving the overall quality of life through her service with organizations including the Coquitlam Mayor's Committee for People with Disabilities, the Coquitlam Foundation, the Coquitlam Public Library Board, the Community Gaming Management Association, and the Spina Bifida and Hydrocephalus Association of Canada. This remarkable woman is described as having clarity of vision, a determined attitude and a superb work ethic. She continually demonstrates exemplary leadership and support in each organization she has committed to.

There is truly nothing like a mother's love. It is not only what makes her the mother who many look up to, but also the initial drive behind her generous list of organizations which she volunteers at. Talbot is not your stereotypical "loving mother" and "good citizen"; she takes the definition of those terms to a new height.

With the birth of her physically disabled son, looking after the welfare of her child no longer cuts it for the meaning of a mother. Talbot felt a strong sense of responsibility to find peer support for her disabled son, but soon discovered that the disabled persons support groups are virtually non-existent, and that there are other parents all around the community just like her. Talbot saw the urgent need to strengthen these support groups and help those parents in similar situations. She started off with volunteering for the Coquitlam Mayor's Committee for People with Disabilities a short period after her son's birth. "One thing led to another" she said, and she is currently taking voluntary leadership roles in numerous committees and associations such as the Coquitlam Foundation, the Coquitlam Public Library Board, the Community Gaming Management Association, and the Spina Bifida and Hydrocephalus Association of Canada; an organization that deals with people with these specific birth defects.

After two and half decades of touching lives and making a difference around the community, volunteerism has become a way of life for Talbot. Being a "stay-at-home mom", Talbot humbly states that she volunteers partly because she "[has] the time that many others don't." Even so, it is a greatly admirable that she has consistently dedicated tremendous amounts of time and effort towards community improvement. "It must have taken a lot of time for the committee to review the nominations and process the awards, it feels nice receive recognition" was her answer when she was asked for her reaction to the award, however, that is not what fuels her strong and continuous desire to volunteer; she demonstrates the countless acts of altruism because she sees the need for initiative taking volunteers in the community to improve it for everyone.