Twice a year LESA honours all of our volunteers by publishing a brochure identifying each valued, indispensable, incredible person who partnered with LESA to make our programs and resources a great success.
While this is just a small token of our appreciation of all that you do, we want to recognize your gift of time and talent by telling everyone that you’re an amazing volunteer.
If you haven’t already seen LESA’s latest Volunteer Appreciation brochure, it should be hitting your desk today.
You’ll notice that our brochure also highlights one feature volunteer who provided exceptional support to our LESA programs and resources over the past six months. With so many of you to choose from, this was no easy choice.
But we managed to make a decision, and we’re pleased to feature Tina Huizinga for her outstanding contribution to all three of LESA’s major areas where volunteers provide support! Since July, Tina has served as an author for the 2014 Family Law Practice Manual update, a faculty member at our Child Support seminar, and a CPLED face-to-face learning exercises facilitator for the Oral Advocacy module.
You’ll find our interview with Tina on the front page of the Volunteer Appreciation brochure, but we had such a good interview that we wanted to pass on even more in today’s blog.
Is there a background of people in law in your family?
Nope. I was the first. Actually I was the first person in my family to go to university, period. My mom was a bookkeeper and my dad sold doors and hardware. So they were completely gobsmacked when I said I wanted to be a lawyer. They were like, “Do you even know what a lawyer does? So I cannot explain where that came from at all. It’s just always what I wanted to do. I guess it’s one of those things that people say, “Well that’s a calling I had.”
What motivates you to volunteer?
It’s a sense of wanting to give back. Being a lawyer has afforded me a lot of opportunities financially that I had never expected. Being a lawyer to me was never about the income. I was assuming, because I had planned to be a Crown Prosecutor, that … I wasn’t going to be earning a huge income. So I have the opportunity to do a lot of things that I didn’t expect to be able to do, and I think it’s important to give back and share what I’ve learned. That was part of why I was a sessional instructor at the U of A as well. I was teaching Techniques in Negotiations, and part of every class was a section called Coaches Corner, which is not just about law and the practice of law but also some practical advice that I wish people had given me when I was in law school. So it’s sort of wanting people to not make the mistakes I did as a young lawyer, or even now [as a more senior lawyer]. I mean you learn from your mistakes at the time, so I want to pass on my experiences and hope that people learn something from it. I find it really rewarding when people say, “Wow, that was really interesting.”
Is there anything else you’d like to add?
I think everybody really needs to find some form of volunteering. … Whatever it is that you’re passionate about, find some outlet and take some time every year to volunteer. It returns itself to you tenfold, in terms of how you feel about yourself. Once you’ve done a volunteer experience, if you’ve never done it before, you’ll realize how beneficial it is. It’s not really altruistic to do it, because you get such a good feeling from helping somebody. I encourage people to do it for their own benefit. And it makes the world a better place. That sounds really Pollyanna, which is not how most people would describe me.
With such a busy career and volunteer schedule, how do you like spending your free time?
I’m a sports nut. I play baseball all summer. … And I have a dog [named Radar] who I spend lots of time with. He’s a mutt, a lab crossed with we don’t know what – maybe some Shepard, maybe something else. It’s like having a small child. I like hanging out with him. He’s adorable. And I love not only playing sports but watching sports. I’m a big Blue Jays fan, I’m a Jets fan, and I’m a Winnipeg Blue Bombers fan, since I grew up in Manitoba.
We hope you appreciated today’s blog and the chance to hear from one of your colleagues. For more of our interview with Tina, check out the Volunteer Appreciation brochure.
If you volunteered for us in the past six months, thank you! Please ensure that your name is listed in the Volunteer Appreciation brochure. We truly appreciate the contributions of all our volunteers, and we sincerely hope no technological or human error would have led to your name being missing from the list. If that did happen we’ll feel terribly about it, and we hope you’ll call (780.420.1987) or email ([email protected]) so that we can correct the brochure on our website.
