The Athabasca UFA Petroleum station was a flurry of activity last Wednesday when famed country singer Paul Brandt stopped by to recognize Athabasca’s Quilting for Humanity ladies for a job well done.
Brandt is on his Small Town Heroes recognition tour, visiting small communities across Alberta meeting heroes of all kinds.
Brandt is a well-known Alberta country singer. Mayor Roger Morrill greeted him at the UFA and so did approximately 60 other local residents.
Small Town Heroes is a program where communities can nominate citizens who do more than they are asked for a Paul Brandt concert, and cash donation.
Quilting For Humanity, as one of the eight runner-ups, won $1,000.
“It’s an inspiring thing to be able to be a part of,” Brandt said. “We found that the response was so overwhelming, and so many people were being nominated and being recognized that it just spilled over into another year.”
Quilting for Humanity was nominated for their efforts to help anyone and everyone in need.
“On May 15, 2011 the call came in that blankets were needed at the Evacuation Centre in Athabasca for the people forced from their homes in Slave Lake,” their nomination reads. “Within minutes over 200 quilts as well as pillows and stuffed toys for the kids were delivered to the Athabasca Multiplex.”
Then in July several ladies and grandchildren banded together once more and created 50 more quilts for Slave Lake evacuees who lost everything in the fire.
“You can truly feel the love in each and every quilt,” it says. “(They rely) on only donations of fabric and money and any fundraising they can do to buy much needed batting, thread, and other material.”
Their goal is to complete more than 500 quilts this year.
“We’re in Athabasca right now recognizing the quilting ladies, and I had a great time hanging out with them and just seeing all the great work that they’ve done,” Brandt said. “When we started Small Town Heroes a year ago the idea behind it was just to get into the community and say thank you to those people who selflessly decide that they are going to give.”
Brandt is very community oriented and wants the heroes in small communities to be recognized for their hard work.
“I think what this province was made on was people helping people and being willing to look outside of the situation you’re in and realize that we are stronger as a community,” he said. “That’s what UFA was built on. To be able to be here and celebrate those roots and celebrate those facts is a wonderful thing. I couldn’t be more proud to be associated with it.”
Jimm Holland is the managing director of branch strategy for UFA and he said it seemed like a natural fit to work with Brandt.
“He is one of the most genuine, down-to-earth people you’ll ever meet,” Holland said. “It doesn’t matter how many people are in line for an autograph or photo, he will stay right to the very end.”
The program was founded on knowing that there were people out there doing extraordinary things and not being recognized.
“We hear about people who are doing extraordinary things in far away places and we overlook what our friends and neighbours are doing right here in our own backyard,” Holland said.
Brandt added, “I think that Small Town Heroes is just going to get bigger and better as we continue to move on with it.”
Brandt is looking for the people who are at the rink early in the morning, the ones who lend a hand at harvest time when you have no one to turn to.
“It’s always wonderful to be able to find people and to be able to say thank you for the work they’ve done publicly but to scour a little bit and find people who are always behind the scenes,” he said. “Those are the people that we’re looking for and looking to recognize through the Small Town UFA Heroes program. It’s all about going out there and saying thank you to as many people as we can.”
