On June 23, 2023, Engineers Canada staff members picked up paintbrushes and rollers and set to work painting three floors of an Ottawa Community Housing (OCH) apartment building in their annual volunteer day.
"Our Senior Leadership Team believes that, as an organization, it’s important we give back to our community," said Gerard McDonald, Engineers Canada CEO . "It’s in this spirit that we organize an annual volunteer day with staff, and this year’s painting day at Ottawa Community Housing was a great opportunity for giving back and creating a positive and lasting impact in our community.”
OCH provides approximately 15,000 homes to 32,000 tenants, including seniors, parents, children, couples, singles, and persons with special needs within many communities across the City of Ottawa. OCH is the largest social housing provider in Ottawa, and the second largest in Ontario, housing a diverse population of varying languages, ethnicities, and cultures.
OCH’s apartment building at 380 Murray St. in downtown Ottawa needed a fresh coat of paint in its hallways. Approximately 20 members of Engineers Canada staff divided into teams of rollers and cutters and spent six hours painting three of the building’s floors, totalling about 4.5 km of wall space.
While capital costs, such as roof repairs, elevator maintenance, and simple upkeep of OCH’s buildings take priority, volunteer projects like painting are the little things that truly affect the lives of OCH tenants in a positive way, allowing them to feel the pride of place in their community.
The volunteer day also had a great impact on Engineers Canada staff. “Engineers Canada’s volunteer day was an absolute blast!” described Roseanne Gauthier, Executive Assistant at Engineers Canada. “It gave us the opportunity to connect with some of the building's residents and with our Ottawa Community Housing and Volunteer Ottawa contacts. We listened to their stories, which reminded us of that you don’t have to do a grand gesture to able to shape the world. Simple acts of kindness, compassion, and service will always be appreciated. ”
“I thought volunteer day was a really great way of bringing everyone together,” added Eileen Sowunmi, Associate, Outreach and Belonging, at Engineers Canada. “Given our hybrid work model, it was also a great way to connect with colleagues, while doing something meaningful for our community, so a win in more ways than one. ”
Engineers Canada thanks Volunteer Ottawa for helping us organize our staff volunteer day. Engineers Canada has collaborated with Volunteer Ottawa to organize three staff volunteer days in recent years, including volunteering at the Summer Solstice Festival in 2019 and at the Pinhey Sand Dunes in 2022.
